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GEORGE WASHINGTON 



GRADED SUPPLEMENTARY READING SERIES 

. :^ __^ 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES FROM 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

FOR THE FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES 



REQUIRED BY THE SYLLABUS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
OF THE NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 



BY 
EDNA HENRY LEE TURPIN 

AUTHOB OF " CLASSIC FABLES," " STORIES FROM AMERICAN HIS- 
TORY," " FAMOUS PAINTERS," ETC., ETC. 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 






|LiBftARYofCONeri£3S{ 
j Two Copies Haceiv\.o 

DEC 4 '907 

cO'r'^ a. I 



COPYRIGHT, 1907, 
BY 

CHARLES E, MERRILL CO. 



PREFACE 

"Universal history, the history of what man has accom- 
]ilished in the world, is at bottom the history of the great 
men w^ho have worked here," says Carlyle, ''The history 
of the world is the biography of great men." 

What the historian-philosopher esteemed the truest 
form of history is undoubtedly the form which appeals 
earliest and most strongly to the child mind. This fact 
has been recognized by educators, and biographical 
stories in the lower grades are wisely made the founda- 
tion for more comprehensive work in advanced grades. 

The following biographies of men and women promi- 
nent in the making of American history are intended as 
an introduction to a topical study of the history of the 
United States. These biographies are prepared to meet 
the requirements of the New York State schools; the 
author has followed the plan outlined in the State Sylla- 
bus. She has in every case consulted the most recent 
and authoritative biographies, and has endeavored to 
make the narrative truthful and vivid. 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

This book contains all the biographical matter required 
for the fifth and sixth grades in the Elementary Syllabus 
of the New York State Education Department, and 
follows faithfully the outlines given. 

The style is clear, easy, and concise, common words 
and short sentences being used. 

The aim is to bring out, so far as the brief space will 
allow, those biographical and dramatic elements which 
make the strongest appeal to the pupil. 

While no attempt is made to present a continuous 
history of our country, these biographies show its 
development from the time of discovery and exploration 
through the days of colonization and settlement to the 
present period of invention and industrial supremacy. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Adams, Samuel , . . 149 
Bacon, Nathaniel . . 122 
Baltimore, Cecil Cal- 
vert, Lord .... 105 
Barton, Clara . . . 290 
Bell, Alexander Gra- 
ham 236 

Boone, Daniel . . . 200 
Cabot, John .... 37 
Carnegie, Andrew . . 297 
Cham PLAIN, Samuel de . 94 
Clay, Henry .... 247 
Clinton, DeWitt . . 218 
Columbus, Christopher 20 
De Soto, Ferdinand . . 31 
Dewey, George B. . . 292 
Drake, Sir Francis . . 41 
Edison, Thomas A. . . 238 
Farragut, David G. . . 282 
Field, Cyrus W, . . 236 
Franklin, Benjamin . 126 
Fulton, Robert . . , 223 
Grant, Ulysses S. . . 267 
Greene, Nathanael . . 176 
Hamilton, Alexander . 193 
Henry, Patrick . . .142 
Hudson, Henry ... 80 
Jackson, Andrew . . 240 
Jefferson, Thomas . , 186 
Jones, John Paul . . 181 
Lafayette, Marie Jean, 
Marquis de . . . 212 



PAGE 

La Salle, Egbert de . 100 
Lee, Egbert E. . . . 277 
Leif the Lucky ... 7 
Lincoln, Abraham . . 257 
McCormick, Cyrus . . 230 
MacDonough, Thomas . 204 
MiNUiT, Peter ... 84 
Montcalm, Louis, Mar- 
quis DE 136 

Morse, Samuel F. B. . 233 
Oglethorpe, James Ed- 
ward 114 

Penn, William . . . 109 

Perry, Oliver Hazard . 204 
Philip, King of Wam- 

PANOAGS 118 

Pocahontas .... 58 
Polo, Marco .... 13 
Ealeigh, Sir Walter . 46 
Schuyler, Philip . . 169 
Smith, Captain John . 51 
Standish, Miles ... 62 
Stephenson, George . 220 
Stuyvesant, Peter . . 89 
Washington, George . 156 
Webster, Daniel . . 253 
Whitney, Eli . , . 226 
Williams, Eoger . . 76 
Winthrop, John, Gov- 
ernor 70 

Wolfe, James . . .136 



BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES FROM 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

FOR THE FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES 

Leif the Lucky 

From the northwestern coast of Europe projects the 
rock-ribbed Scandinavian peninsula. The scenery is 
grand and picturesque, but the soil is sterile and the 
climate severe. In this bleak, beautiful country and on 
the adjacent islands of the Baltic Sea, there lived, a 
thousand years ago, the people called the ITorsemen or 
ISTorthmen. 

Their houses were usually long wooden structures 
a hundred or two hundred feet in length. Sometimes 
these houses were divided into several rooms, but often 
the dwelling consisted of only one large hall or living- 
room. On the floor of stone or hard-trampled earth, 
M^as kindled a fire, the smoke from which found its 
way upward and out through the crevices of the high- 
pitched roof. On three sides of the room were built 
beds, — shelf-like structures of boards, with skins for 
bedding and blankets. 

7 



8 

The Norsemen did not even attempt to wrest a liv- 
ing from the rehictant soih At home tlicir days were 
given to hnnting and fishing, their evenings to feasting 
in the halL While they sat at table, the scalds, as their 
poets were called, sang or recited tales of battles, con- 
quests, voyages, — the daring deeds of the vikings or 
sea-robbers and the sea-kings of their race. Thus in 
hunting, fishing, and feasting passed the winter. 

When summer unlocked the storm- and ice-bound har- 
bors, the Norsemen put forth in their ships. Their 
long-ships, or ships of war, were long, narrow vessels; 
on each side were benches for rowers and over the sides 
hung the shining shields of the Norsemen. Hundreds 
of these little vessels pushed off boldly from the shores 
of Scandinavia every summer. The Norsemen knew 
nothing of the mariner's compass, and they directed 
their course on the pathless seas by means of the stars. 
This was a dangerous undertaking, and in stormy, foggy 
weather, many a boat lost its bearings and went down 
with all on board. 

Fleets of the long-boats, however, braved the rough 
seas and sought distant lands — the coasts of England, 
France, Spain, Italy, even of Greece and Africa. What 
was their object ? Plunder and always plunder. The 
fierce, merciless sea-soldiers descended on a land sud- 
denly, like a thunder-cloud from the blue summer sky. 
They laid it waste; then, w'ith stores of gold and sil- 
ver, household goods and provisions, they sailed back 



9 

home. Year after year, century after century, the 
Norsemen made these summer raids and were a terror 
to all the western and southern coasts of Europe. 

But in the course of time, the character of the Norse 
invasions changed. The men did not sail forth alone 
for summer raids. Instead, men, women, and children 
went together and wintered on the coasts which tliey 
plundered. Sometimes they remained summer and 
winter and made the stolen lands their own. They 
were so strong and fierce in battle that few people 
could withstand them. 

They overran the coasts of England, and it seemed 
as if they would take possession of the land. But a 
brave, wise king, Alfred the Great, defeated them on 
land, and built boats, the beginning of the EngKsli 
navy, to defend the coasts. Thus the Norse people in 
England became subjects instead of masters. 

France, however, did not have an Alfred the Great. 
In the ninth century Rolf, a bold Norseman, established 
himself on the fair coast-land of France. In course of 
time, the people there were called Normans instead of 
Norsemen, and the land they had seized was known as 
Normandy. These Normans, like their Norse ances- 
tors, were fond of battle and conquest. One of them, 
Duke William, went to England, took possession of the 
land, and made himself King William. 

The Norsemen went west as well as south, and in the 
ninth century, they settled in Iceland. Thence they 



10 

pushed on to Greenland, where they established a col- 
ony. Farther west than Greenland it is said that they 
went, to the continent of America, hundreds of years 
before Columbus was born. 

Here is the story as the Sagas, or old Scandinavian 
tales, tell it. 

In 985, Bjami, a merchant and ship-master who was 
traveling from Iceland to Greenland, was driven out of 
his course by a storm and foggy weather. '' They 
were borne before the wind for many days, they knew 
not whither." When at last calm and sunshine came, 
they reached a low wooded shore, probably Cape Cod. 
Leaving this land on the left, Bjarni sailed northward, 
with a favoring wind. Two days later, he again came 
near land, low and wooded. This is supposed to have 
been Nova Scotia. Again Bjarni turned from the 
coast which he felt sure was not the land that he sought, 
" because they told me," he said, " that there are great 
mountains of ice in Greenland." Three days later, 
he reached a rocky, snow-covered shore. He coasted 
along this till he found that it was an island, — probably 
Newfoundland, — and then again he turned away. A 
storm from the south drove him on his course and in 
four days he reached Greenland. 

He told the story of his wanderings on the western 
seas, but he did not attempt to revisit the lands he 
had found. At last the tale came to the ears of Leif 



11 

Eriksen, " a man strong and of great stature, of dig- 
nified aspect, wise and moderate in all things." 

Leif bought Bj ami's ship and in 999 sailed forth 
with about twenty-five men to find the new land. He 
reached the snow-covered island — Newfoundland — 
which he called ITelluland, " land of broad stones," and 
he went ashore to see its " frozen heights and bare flat 
rocks." Next he visited the " low wooded land of white 
sandy shore " — Nova Scotia — which he called " Mark- 
land, land of woods." At last he reached the third 
promontory — Cape Cod, — the first which Bjarni had 
beheld ; there he landed and passed the winter. From 
the wild grapes, then as now plentiful on the coast of 
Massachusetts Bay, the Norsemen gave the land the 
name " Vinland," land of wine. The next spring they 
returned to Greenland, rescuing on the way a crew of 
shipwrecked men. From this time Leif was called 
" Leif the Lucky." 

Two years later Leif said to his brother Thorvald, 
" Go brother, take my ship to Vinland." Thorvald 
with thirty men spent the winter in the dwellings Leif 
had erected two years before; the next summer they 
explored the surrounding country and wintered again 
in " Leif's booths." In the summer of 1004, the Norse- 
men coasted along the shore exploring the country. 
At one time when they landed, they were attacked by 
.natives, supposed to be Esquimaux, whom they called 



12 

Skrsellngs. In the skirmish Thorvald received a fatal 
wound from an arrow. Ilis foUowers returned to 
" Leif s booths " and in the summer of 1005 went back 
to Greenland ; they gave an enthusiastic description of 
Vinland, with its vines, wild corn, fish, and game. 

A few years later, Thorfinn Karlsefne and his wife 
Gudrid with three ships and one hundred and sixty 
persons made a voyage to Vinland. Gudrid's son Snorri, 
the ancestor of the famous Danish sculptor Thorwald- 
sen, is said to have been born in Vinland. At the end 
of three years, the party returned to Greenland. After 
the death of her husband, Gudrid made a pilgrimage 
to Rome, where she described to the pope the fair new 
land in the west, the Christian settlement in " Vinland 
the Good." 

From Greenland, we are told, hunters and fisher- 
men made frequent voyages to Vinland. They estab- 
lished settlements there and carried on a fur trade with 
the Indians. But in course of time, these posts were 
destroyed by the Indians, and the ISTorse settlements 
in Greenland itself were destroyed by war and plague. 
The western voyages and the memory of them ceased. 
Only the Scalds, trained to repeat family histories and 
tales of war and conquest, remembered and related 
the story of Vinland. In the course of time, these 
sagas, or stories, were written down, and centuries later 
men learned about the Norse colony, or " western plant- 
ing," in the New World. 



13 

Marco Polo 
A Famous Traveler 

You do not need to be told that the world as known 
to us to-daj is very different from the world as it was 
kno\\Ti — or misknown — to the people of the thirteenth 
century. Two great inventions broadened the horizon 
of Europe; these were the mariner's compass and the 
printing press. The mariner's compass made it pos- 
sible for men to strike boldly across unknown seas in- 
stead of clinging to familiar shores ; the printing press 
spread books abroad and conveyed the knowledge of 
the few to the masses. 

To-day, the steamship and the railway unite coun- 
tries and destroy distance. Even the parts of the world 
where these do not penetrate, own, to a greater or less 
extent, the power of the great nations of the world. 
A citizen of the United States can cross the deserts of 
Africa or penetrate the wilds of Asia and be protected 
by his nation's flag. There is hardly a place so se- 
cluded that some hardy traveler has not visited it, de- 
scribing and picturing the country, people, and customs 
so as to make them known to all the world. 

Very different was the state of affairs in the thir- 
teenth century. The European who started east had 
an imblazed trail before him. He had to make his way 
on foot or on horseback, by sail or row boats, through 
mountain passes, trackless forests, and vast deserts, and, 



14 

across streams and seas. On the land, he encountered 
robbers ; on the waters, pirates. Everywhere were peo- 
ple with unknown customs and strange languages. The 
chances were that the adventurous traveler, instead of 
returning home, would leave his bones to whiten foreign 
sands. 

Yet one traveler encoimtered and passed through all 
these dangers, returned safe home, and dictated an ac- 
count of his travels, — a true story, as wonderful as the 
talcs of the " Arabian Nights." Perhaps some day you 
will read the story of Marco Polo's travels. 

Ifarco Polo began life with three advantages ; he was 
born in the thirteenth century, he was a Venetian, and 
he was a Polo. Venice, in the Middle Ages, was one 
of the commercial centers of the world. The great 
oceans were as yet uncrossed ; the Italian cities sent 
forth merchant vessels which brought across the Med- 
iterranean the goods conveyed overland by caravans 
from the East, — the spices, gold, and jewels of Asia. 
Among the Venetian families made wealthy by com- 
merce — the merchant-princes, as they were called — 
was the Polo family. About the middle of the thir- 
teenth century, there were three Polo brothel's engaged 
in commerce. 

Tw^o of these brothers went to the East, first to the 
Crimea and thence to Cathay, as China was then called. 
They were probably the first European travelers who 
reached China. They went to Cambaluc, 01* Peking, 



15 

where tliey were gi'acioiisly received by the great em- 
peror, Kiiblai Khan. lie was the grandson of Jenghiz, 
who had made himself master of northern China. The 
son and grandson of Jenghiz extended his conquests, so 
that the kingdom of Kuhlai Khan embraced China, 
northern Asia, Persia, Armenia, and parts of Asia 
Minor and Russia. Under this powerful ruler, the 
East was not only bound together in one vast empire, 
it was open to Europeans as it had never been before 
and has never been since. Kublai Khan welcomed the 
Polo brothers to his court, and they spent there several 
years. At last they returned to Venice, where Nicolo 
had left his wife ; his son Marco, born the year of his 
departure, was now a youth of about eighteen. 

The Polo brothers remained in Venice two years and 
then returned to Cathay. With them went Marco Polo, 
a brave, intelligent youth. They passed through the 
country around the sources of the river Oxus and 
crossed the plateau of Pamir and the great desert of 
Gobi. Much of this country had never before been vis- 
ited by Europeans, and we have no record of its being 
revisted until a few years ago when the Orient was again 
to some extent opened to the world. 

The Polos were welcomed back by Kublai Khan, who 
was at his winter residence, Cambaluc, where " are to 
be seen in wonderful abundance the precious stones, 
the pearls, the silks, and the diverse perfumes of the 
East." Marco mastered the four languages most in 



16 

use at court. The Khan, seeing that he was both in- 
telligent and discreet, sent him on public business to 
Kara Korum, Cochin-China, India, and other parts of 
the great empire. When he returned, he was able to 
give the Khan information stored in his memory and his 
note books not only about the business of which he had 
charge but also about the manners, customs, and pe- 
culiarities of the peoples he had visited. He became 
a gTeat favorite with the Khan and was, we are told, 
made governor of the great city of Yang-Chow. 

At the end of fifteen years, the Polos desired to re- 
visit their home, and the Khan consented on condition 
that they would return to Cathay. Some idea of the 
difficulty of the return journey may be gathered from 
the fact that it took twenty-six months. We are told 
that their kindred did not recognize the long-absent 
merchants. They gave a grand feast in oriental style; 
at the end they donned costumes suiting their rank 
and ripped apart their travel-worn garments, display- 
ing dazzling wealth of rubies, sapphires, and other gems 
therein concealed. 

The Polos had been at home only about three years 
when there arose war between Genoa and Venice, wdiicli 
w^ere commercial rivals. The hostile fleets met in bat- 
tle and the Venetians were defeated. Among the seven 
thousand prisoners was Marco Polo, who was an officer 
on one of the Venetian galleys. He was put in prison in 
Genoa and there he remained about a year. One of his 



17 

fellow-prisoners was Riisticiano of Pisa, an author. 
The Pisan was much interested in the wonderful adven- 
tures of Polo and wrote them down from dictation. 

The book consists practically of two parts. The first 
part, or prologue as it is called, relates the circumstances 
of the two Polos' first visit to the Khan's court, their 
second voyage accompanied by Marco, and their return 
home by way of the Indian Seas and of Persia. Polo 
informed the Europeans, who thought that eastern Asia 
ended in swamps and fog and darkness, that there was 
open sea east of Asia and that he, his father, and his 
uncle had sailed from the southeast coast of Cathay, 
or China, to the Persian Gulf. The second part of 
Polo's " Travels " describes the different states and prov- 
inces of Asia, and the court and rule of Kublai Khan. 
Little is told of the traveler himself, but we gather 
that he was a brave, shrewd, and prudent man. 

After Marco Polo's release from prison in 1299, he 
seems to have returned to Venice, married, and lived 
quietly in his native city until his death in 1324. 

" The Book of Marco Polo," as Rusticiano of Pisa 
called his work, was read with much interest and was 
translated into many languages. For many centuries 
it was the only European description of the far East, 
written by an eye-witness. Polo was accused of false- 
hood and exaggeration, but as people learned more about 
the lands he described, they found that, in the main, 
he was right; he was truthful and accurate in describ- 



18 

ing what he had seen, but he was sometimes misled by 
the tales of others to whom he listened. In the pro- 
logue, Eusticiano says that he describes things seen by 
" Messer Marco Polo, a wise and noble citizen of Ven- 
ice. . . . Some things indeed there be therein 
which he beheld not ; but these he heard from men of 
credit and veracity, and we shall set down things seen 
as seen, and things heard as heard only, so that no jot 
of falsehood may mar the truth of our book and that all 
who shall read it or hear it read may put full faith in 
the truth of all its contents." I 

Marco Polo was the first European traveler to make 
his way across the whole length of Asia, naming and 
describing the kingdoms which he visited. He was the 
first to describe the Pamir plateau, " the roof of the 
world," the highest level country on the globe, the 
deserts and flowery plains of Persia, the wealth and size 
of China, the manners and customs of its people, and 
the splendid court of its emperor, the great Kublai 
Khan. He was the first to describe Tibet, and to tell 
of Burmah, Cochin-China, Siam, Japan, Java, Sumatra, 
Ceylon, and India, not merely as names but as places 
he had seen and known. He gave an account of the 
secluded Christian empire of Abyssinia, of the trop- 
ical luxuriance of the far-off islands, of the negroes and 
ivory of Zanzibar, of vast and distant Madagascar, of 
Siberia and tlic Arctic shores with their dog-sledges, 
white bears^ and reindeer. In brief, he described Asia 



19 

from Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, to Ceylon, from 
the Adriatic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and to him 
Europe owes its first geographical knowledge of Asia. 

In the time of Marco Polo, the Mongolian Empire 
was probably the largest in the world. He informed 
Europeans that in the East, which they thought in- 
habited by savage and ignorant people, was a wealthy 
and civilized kingdom, swarming with inhabitants and 
dotted with huge cities. He described the palaces and 
pleasure grounds of Cambaluc, or Peking, somewhat 
as they are to-day. He told how " black stones " were 
dug out of the earth and burnt for fuel, because they 
" burn better and cost less " than wood, — whereat Polo 
marveled. He told about the emperor's granaries for 
wheat, barley, millet, and rice, about the wool, silk, 
hemp, spices, sugar, gold, and salt of the country. At 
first it seems strange that Polo did not mention tea, 
for hundreds of years the national drink of the Chinese, 
but we must remember that he was associated with the 
Tartar ruling classes and so was to a great extent ig- 
norant of the manners and customs of the subject 
natives. 

Cipangu or Cipango — that is, Japan — was made 
known to Europeans by Polo. He described it as " an 
island in the high seas," and said that the sea around 
it was studded with thousands of islands rich in spices 
and perfumes. Cipango was the only country attacked 
by Kublai Khan which was able to resist his power. 



20 

Its people were civilized and it was rich in gold and 
in wonderful pearls, white and rose-colored. Polo says 
" rubies are found on this island and in no other coun- 
try in the world but this." 

He described India, — the scanty garments of the 
people and their magnificent jewels. He gave an in- 
teresting account of the diamond mines of Golconda, 
and of the cotton plant — more valuable even than 
those rich mines — from which fiber is obtained for 
clothing. He visited and described the places from 
which are obtained ginger, pepper, cinnamon, camphor, 
and other gums and spices. 

Seilan, or Ceylon, was another place visited by 
Polo. He described the j^earl fisheries there, much as 
they are to-day. 

Christopher Columbus 
The Great Admiral 

With the name and deeds of Christopher Columbus 
you are already familiar. You will be interested in a 
brief sketch of the main facts of his life; someday, it 
is hoped, you will read the story as told at length by 
our great American author, Washington Irving. 

Careful research has not been able to ascertain the 
exact year of Christopher Columbus's birth. It was 
sometiiiio about the middle of the fifteenth century, 
probably 1445 or 1416, His father was a wool-comber 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



21 

who lived in a village near the great Italian city of 
Genoa. Genoa was a rich commercial city, — the rival 
of Venice, as yon learned in the story of Marco Polo. 

Probably Cohnnbns often visited Genoa in boyhood; 
he early showed his inclination for a seafaring life and 
became a sailor when he was about fifteen. Sea- 
faring then was very different from what it is now. 
People knew little of the world beyond Europe, western 
Asia, and northern Africa. Sailors were beginning to 
use the mariner's compass, but old habits were still 
strong, and they did not often venture far from land. 
This was not only because they feared that they would 
lose their way and be unable to return home. They 
thought that around the known land and sea circled 
the Sea of Darkness, full of raging monsters and dan- 
gerous whirlpools. For centuries some geographers 
had reasoned that the world was round, but they never 
went to see if this were true. The majority of people 
believed that the earth was flat like a floor. Probably 
that was what Columbus believed in his youth. 

We have little record of his early years. " Wherever 
ship has sailed," he wrote later, " there have I jour- 
neyed." 

When he was about twenty-five years old, he married 
and settled in Lisbon. There he supported himself 
and his family by making the maps and charts, so 
necessary to sailors. He seems to have sj^ent his leisure 
reading books of geography and travels, studying old 



22 

papers and charts, and talking with seamen. One of 
his favorite books was the story of the old Venetian 
traveler, Polo ; as Columbus read about the vast and 
wealthy country of Cathay and the island of Cipango 
with its houses roofed with gold, he longed to visit 
them. 

As he pondered the matter, he became convinced that 
these eastern lands could be reached by sailing west. 
Old geographers described the earth as a sphere. Co- 
lumbus was convinced that this was true. It never oc- 
curred to him that any land unknown to him lay be- 
tween Europe and Asia. lie thought that the earth 
was much smaller than it really is and that Asia was 
much larger. He believed that the sea which Marco 
Polo described as east of Asia extended eastward to 
the shores of western Europe, He thought it was about 
twenty-five hundred or three thousand miles from Spain 
to China. This was a great mistake. But Columbus 
was much nearer the truth than most men of the day 
— who thought the world flat with an edge over which 
there was danger of falling. And, unlike the old geog- 
raphers, Columbus resolved to sail westward to prove 
the truth of his theory. 

There was living in Florence at this time a learned 
old man, a scholar and student, named Toscanelli, who 
had said he believed that India could be reached by 
sailing west. Columbus wrote to this scholar in 1474, 
telling of his intention to attempt the voyage. Tos- 



23 

canelli sent him a chart which unfortunately has been 
lost and wrote, " I praise your desire to navigate toward 
the west; the expedition you wish to undertake is not 
easy, but the route from the west coast of Europe to the 
Spice Indies is certain, if the tracks I have marked be 
followed." 

Three years later Columbus made a voyage to Ice- 
land. It has been suggested that he went there be- 
cause he had heard sailors' tales of the news carried 
to Rome by Gudrid of "' Vinland the Good " — the 
western land discovered by Leif the Lucky. It is said 
that in Iceland Columbus met a learned bishop with 
whom he conversed in Latin about Greenland and 
Vinland. But these northern lands were not the ones 
sought by Columbus. He wanted to reach the southern 
coast, to visit the Cathay and Cipango of Marco Polo. 

Soon after his return from Iceland, it is said that 
Columbus applied to his native city, Genoa, to fit out 
an expedition for a voyage of discovery. Meeting re- 
fusal there and at Venice, he turaed to Portugal. The 
king of Portugal was not averse to undertaking the ex- 
l^edition but was unwilling to give Columbus the rank 
and rewards he demanded in case of success. The 
king secretly sent out an expedition to follow the route 
indicated by Columbus. But the faint-hearted captain 
returned after a brief cruise, saying he had seen no 
signs of land. 

Indignant at this bad faith, Columbus took his little 



24 

son Diego and set out in 1484 to present his project 
to the Spanish sovereigns. His brother Bartolomeo 
had gone to plead his cause with the king of England. 
Columbus reached Spain at an unfavorable time. King 
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were engaged in a war 
against the Moors, which occupied their time and 
emptied their treasury. However, the matter was laid 
before a council of scholars who decided that the plan 
was vain and impracticable. 

Seven years Columbus attended the Spanish court, 
hoping against hope that a decision would be made in 
his favor. Weary and disappointed, he at last turned 
away, in 1491, to lay his project before Charles VIII., 
King of France. 

Footsore and dejected, he stopped one evening with 
his son Diego at the convent of La Rabida to beg a 
night's lodging. There he told the prior about the plan 
on which his heart was set, — his longing to add the 
rich domains which he was certain lay to the west, to 
the kingdom of Spain, his desire to win the great Khan 
and his subjects to the Christian faith and extend the 
power of the Church. This ambition appealed to the 
devout prior. At midnight he mounted his mule and 
rode to the camp to see the queen and persuade her 
to give Columbus an interview. He was successful and 
Columbus returned to plead his own cause with the 
king and queen. The king regarded the project coldly 



25 

and reminded the queen that war had emptied the 
royal treasury. 

" I undertake the enterprise for my own crown of 
Castile," exclaimed Isabella, " and will pledge my 
jewels to raise the necessa-ry funds." 

Columbus was granted the rank and title of admiral 
over all lands he might discover and was promised oner 
tenth of all gold, gems, spices, and other merchandise 
from these lands. Leaving his son Diego as page to the 
young Prince John, Columbus set to work to fit out the 
expedition. It was difficult to secure seamen to ven- 
ture on the unknown ocean. At last the required num- 
ber was secured ; some were forced into service, some 
taken from jails, some won by bounties in advance and 
promises of rewards later. 

On Friday, August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from 
the port of Palos, Spain, with three little vessels. The 
Santa Maria was a decked ship, ninety feet long, car- 
rying sixty-six men ; the Nina and the Pinta, smaller 
than the Santa Maria, were boat-like vessels, carrying 
each ab<;)ut twenty-five men. Columbus had a letter 
from the King of Spain to the great Khan whose 
realm, Cathay, he expected to reach. 

You have read the story of that wonderful voyage 
to seek an 'Old World which ended in the finding of a 
New. You can in fancy follow the course of Columbus 
day after day — his struggles with his timorous, ig- 



2(5 

noranf , greedy, tnrbiilent, mutinous crew, — his iron 
will, and determination to " sail on and on." Day 
after day he set his will and courage against their 
stubborn fears. Like children, the sailors rejoiced at 
every good sign — birds, reeds, and boughs floating on 
the waters ; and were depressed by every evil omen — 
calms and contrary winds. 

At last one night there was seen the flickering light 
of a torch, and the next morning revealed the fair 
shore of a wooded island. As we shut our eyes, we 
can almost see the Sj^aniards landing on that October 
morning. Columbus, richly dressed in scarlet, went 
ashore, fell upon his knees, kissed the earth, and gave 
thanks to God. Then, drawing his sword and unfurl- 
ing the royal banner, he took possession of the land in 
the name of the king and queen of Spain. 

Eyeing the strangers were the natives, — naked, 
with straight, black hair, and swarthy skins daubed 
with paint. Columbus, who thought he had reached 
India, called these people Indians, the name they retain 
to this day. The island, which he called San Salvador, 
was one of the Bahamas. In search of gold, Columbus 
cruised about, touching one island after another, Cuba, 
Haiti, and others of the West Indies. These he thought 
were the " thousands of islands rich in spices " which 
Marco Polo said dotted the sea around Cipango. Cuba, 
Columbus at first thought was Cipango itself, but after- 
wards he concluded that it was the mainland of India. 



2'T 

Out of the timbers of the Santa Maria, which was 
wrecked, a fort was built on Haiti, and here thirty-nine 
sailors were left. 

From Haiti, Columbus set sail for Spain, and he 
reached the port of Palos on the fifteenth of March, 
1493. Xow indeed, his good fortune was at its height. 
He was received with almost royal honors. He was 
bidden to sit in the presence of the king and queen — 
an unheard-of honor in that formal court — while he 
described his voyage and displayed the plants and birds 
and natives he had brought back. Nothing, so thought 
he and his sovereigns, remained but to take possession 
of the spices, gems, and gold described by Marco Polo. 

Another expedition was planned. Instead of having 
to seek adventures and criminals to fit out a crew, he 
had but to choose among the gentlemen and nobles who 
contended for the privilege of accompanying him. A 
fleet of seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men was 
fitted out. With this Columbus sailed away from 
Cadiz, September 25, 1493. The good fortune for 
which he had had to wait so many weary years did 
not long abide with him, and ere this voyage was over 
it had taken its flight. The colony established on Haiti 
had by cruelty provoked the Indians and had been de- 
stroyed. On this second voyage new islands were dis- 
covered, — Jamaica, Porto Pico, and others, — a second 
colony was established, and one exploring expedition 
after another was sent out in search of gold, of which 



28 

small quantities were found. The turbulent, disap- 
pointed adventurers quarreled with Columbus, and his 
enemies at home were active against him. He landed 
at Cadiz, June 11, 1496, and laid his case before his 
sovereigns. 

He was restored to royal favor, but it was two years 
before he could get another expedition fitted out, and 
then. May 30, 1498, only six vessels set sail. This time 
Columbus followed a southernly course and reached the 
mainland of South America, which was visited about 
this time by Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, who wrote 
an account of his voyage. Later, a German geographer 
spoke of it as " Americi terra," land discovered by 
Americus, and so the land came to be called America. 

Columbus at first thought that he had reached an- 
other island ; afterwards he decided that this was the 
coast of Asia and that the Orinoco was a river in the 
Garden of Eden. Making his way to the Indies, Co- 
lumbus found the colony at Santo Domingo in disorder 
but unwilling to submit to his authority. Each side 
appealed to Spain, and Bobadilla was sent out to inves- 
tigate and settle the matter. He listened to but one 
side — that against Columbus. With harshness un- 
called-for, had he been guilty of the charges brought 
against him, Columbus was sent to Spain, a prisoner, 
and in chains. The officers of the ship would have re- 
moved his fetters, but he proudly forbade, saying that 



29 

tliej had been put upon him by the agent of the king 
and queen and so by their authority. 

" I will wear them until my sovereigns order them 
to be taken off, and I will preserve them afterwards 
as relics and memorials of the reward of my services," 
he said. 

This he did. His son Fernando " saw them always 
hanging in his cabinet, and he requested that when he 
died they might be buried with him." The sight, the 
thought, of the great admiral brought in chains from 
the lands he had discovered turned all hearts to him 
with indignant pity. The queen, it is said, was moved 
to tears. Rewards and satisfaction were promised Co- 
lumbus, and Bobadilla was deposed. 

Another voyage Columbus was to make, — his fourth 
and last, — in search of a strait or passage by which he 
might reach Portuguese Asia. On May 9, 1502, he 
set sail with four ships and one hundred and fifty men. 
It was a voyage of " horror, peril, sickness, and starva- 
tion." Columbus sailed along the Gulf of Mexico, 
coming pitifully near lands as rich in gold as the eastern 
ones which he sought. lie missed them and found only 
savage tribes with a few rings and chains of gold. The 
story of these months is a sad one of famine, hardship, 
disease, tempest, mutiny, and quarrels with the natives. 
It was told in after years by Columbus's brave young 
son Fernando, who accompanied him on this voyage. 



30 

At last the admiral turned homeward and reached Se- 
ville in the autumn of 1504. While he lay ill, soon 
after his return, he received the sad news of the death 
of his good friend, Queen Isabella. 

In vain during the months and years which followed 
did the admiral strive to win justice from the king. 
Old and worn out, he had, as he said, " no place to 
repair to except an inn, and often with nothing to 
pay for sustenance." He died. May 20, 1506, think- 
ing to the last that the land which he had discovered 
was a part of the Old World. The voyages of the 
great admiral did not end with his life. His body was 
moved from one tomb to another in Spain, then was 
carried to the Cathedral in Santo Domingo and, in 
1796, to the Cathedral of Havana. 

Seven years after his death, king Ferdinand erected 
in his honor a marble tomb, bearing this inscription, 
" To Castile and Leon Colon gave a new world." But 
the New World slipped from the grasp of the Span- 
iards, unable to hold the rich prize. Other nations of 
Europe claimed and sought to share it, but the brave 
and hardy English overcame one after another of their 
rivals and established here the colonies wdiich grew into 
our mighty commonwealth. The land which Columbus 
discovered is a nation richer and greater than the 
Cathay of which he dreamed. 



31 

Ferdinand de Soto 

The Discoverer of the Mississippi. Eiver 

In Spain and all Enrope, men were willing and eager 
to cross the western ocean to learn more about the lands 
Colnrabus had found. The early discoverers and ex- 
plorers thought that these West Indian islands were 
the East Indies, off the coast of Asia. They wished 
to reach the mainland and get the gold, gems, spices, 
and silks which Polo had told them were to be 
found there. Wealth, even beyond their dreams, the 
Spaniards found. Seeking Cathay, they reached Mex- 
ico and Peru, rich in mines of gold and silver. Our 
famous American historian Prescott, tells the story 
of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Cortez 
and the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards under Pizar- 
ro. Like a fairy tale is the history of how a handful 
of men entered the unknown lands and made themselves 
masters of their wonderful treasures. It is a sad 
story too, of the greed and cruelty of the conquering 
white men, of the suffering and niin of the gentle 
natives. 

Some of the Spaniards, turning a little to the north, 
reached land on Easter Sunday which they call Pascua 
Florida, flowery Easter. In honor of the day the Span- 
iards gave to this land of flowers the name Florida, 
which was applied to all the country north of Mexico. 
All the flowers of that fair land, were not so charming 



32 

to Spanish eyes as one ounce of gold, and for this thej 
roamed the country far and wide. It "was not gold, 
however, which Ponce de Leon sought. His hair was 
turning white and he listened with eager credulity to 
tales of a fountain whose waters would give perpetual 
youth. Landing on the coast of Florida in 1513, he 
wandered hither and thither in a vain search for this 
longed-for fountain. Instead of finding it, he received 
his death wound in a fight with Indians. 

A few years later, Narvaez w^as made governor of 
Florida, and he came with a force of three hundred 
men to conquer it. His troops made their way through 
trackless swamps and forests and among hostile Indian 
tribes, across the peninsula to the Gulf. Here they con- 
structed rude vessels in which to go to Cuba or Mexico. 
Through shipwreck, starvation, and disease, the four 
hundred were reduced to four men who after nine years 
of hardships and wanderings reached a Spanish settle- 
ment in Mexico. There one of them, De Vaca, met 
and talked with a young Spanish captain, Ferdinand 
de Soto. 

Ferdinand, or Hernando, de Soto belonged to a Span- 
ish family that was both poor and noble. As a youth, 
he attracted the attention of a gentleman of wealth who 
took charge of him and educated him. It was not, 
however, the patron's wish that De Soto should marry 
his daughter; when he found that this was the young 
folk's plan, in order to separate them be took De Soto 



33 

on an expedition to the Isthmus of Darien. There De 
Soto distinguished himself by his courage and his dar- 
ing coolness. 

In 1528 he left the service of his patron and went 
on a journey of exploration, in search of the passage 
supposed to connect the ocean west of Spain with that 
east of Asia. Columbus, Cortez, and others had 
searched for this water-way which, as you and I know, 
does not exist. De Soto explored more than seven hun- 
dred miles of the coast of Guatemala and Yucatan. 
As he found no passage between the two oceans, he de- 
cided that there was none and gave up the search. 

In 1532, De Soto with a band of horsemen joined 
Francisco Pizarro, the leader of the army which in- 
vaded and conquered Peru. He was nominally under 
the command of Pizarro but was really the master of 
his brave band of three hundred volunteer horsemen. 
Some historians say that the brave De Soto did more 
to secure victory than did the cruel Pizarro. At all 
events, the higher glory belongs to the young cavalry- 
man ; he displayed more humanity in his dealings with 
the natives than any other Spanish leader and he en- 
deavored to prevent the murder of the captive Inca, or 
emperor, of Peru. 

The wealth wrested from the conquered Peruvians 

enriched the Spanish invaders. De Soto, who had 

landed in America with " nothing else of his own save 

his sword and shield " became master of a fortune of 

c 



84 

" an hundred and four score thousand ducats." He 
returned to Spain and married Isabella, his patron's 
daughter, from whom he had been sej)arated about fif- 
teen years. But he was not content to rest at home. 
The age's spirit of adventure and love of wandering- 
was in his veins. Remembering De Vaca's tales about 
Florida, he persuaded the emperor Charles V. to ap- 
point him governor of Cuba and to gi'ant him the re- 
gion of Florida to explore and conquer at his own ex- 
pense. Adventurers flocked to join him, hoping that 
in the unexplored land of Florida thcj would find 
treasures to equal or surpass those of Mexico and Peru. 
De Soto's wife went with him as far as Cuba, and 
there he bade her farewell — a final farewell, as events 
proved — and in May, 1539, he set sail with five vessels 
for Florida. He landed at Tampa Bay on the west 
coast. From the first he encountered hardship and 
opposition. Florida was occupied by Indian tribes 
naturally fiercer and more warlike than the Mexicans 
and Peruvians ; they had met with cruelty and out- 
rage, the outrage and cruelty of the Spaniards under 
De Leon and Narvaez. Almost everywhere De Soto 
found ready-made foes, expert with war club and bow 
and arrow. For nearly four years he and his men 
wandered from place to place, through morasses and 
forests, seeking gold and treasure but finding them not. 
Disappointed in his search he grew bitter and merciless. 



'^ He was much given to the sport of slaying Indians," 
says one old historian. 

The exact route that De Soto followed is in many 
places hard to determine. He wandered through Flor- 
ida and Georgia, probably into South Carolina and 
Tennessee, and perhaps as far as North Carolina, — 
then he turned southward and approached Mobile Bay. 
On this southward march was carried the Indian chief 
Tuscaloosa. At Mauvila, or Mabila, near Mobile Bay, 
a desperate battle took place in October, 1540, between 
Tuscaloosa's warriors and the Spaniards. The Span- 
iards bought victory with the loss of eighty men and 
forty horses, which could ill be spared. They lost not 
only forces but hope. 

From that time De Soto's wanderings seem to have 
been animated by a dogged resolution not to return 
without honor and treasure. He learned that his men 
planned, as soon as they reached the Bay of Pensa- 
cola, then less than a hundred miles away, to give up 
the expedition. Swiftly he resolved that they should 
not reach Pensacola. Instead of going toward the 
coast and the shijDS containing supplies, he set his face 
to the wilderness and marched northward. " He deter- 
mined to send no news of himself until he should have 
discovered a rich country," says an old annalist. 

" He was an inflexible man and dry of word," wrote 
one who knew him, " who, although he liked to know 



36 

what the others all thought and had to say, after he once 
said a thing he did not like to be opposed ; and as 
he ever acted as he thought best, all bent to his will. 
. . . There was none who would say a thing to hira 
after it became known that he had made up his mind," 

Traveling to the northwest, in May, 1541, he reached 
" a deep and very furious " river, so wide that ^' a man 
standing on the farther shore could not be told whether 
he was a man or not." This was the Mississippi, the 
Father of Waters. The Spaniards made boats and 
crossed the river and continued their wanderings on 
the other side, going northward nearly to the Missouri 
Eiver. Month after month they sought gold ; at last 
they turned southward from the vain search. On the 
homeward journey, De Soto was taken ill. He faced 
death as fearlessly as he had met every foe before. 
He bade farewell to his men, thanked them for their 
loyalty and faith to him, and advised them as to the 
choice of a leader to take his place. 

The Spaniards did not wish the Indians, to whom 
they had represented themselves as immortal, to know 
that death had overtaken their great captain. There- 
fore, in the dead of night they sunk his body in the 
Father of Waters, near the junction of the Mississippi 
and Eed Rivers. After wandering about for several 
months, they constructed frail vessels and trusted them- 
selves to the stream. They reached the mouth of the 
river and made thoir way along the coast until the rem- 



3? 

liaiit left by disease and warfare arrived at a Spanish 
settlement in Mexico. 

John Cabot 

The Discoverer of the Continent of North America 

•r 

By virtue of the discovery of Columbus, Spain 
claimed all the land beyond the western ocean. The 
other countries of Europe, however, refused to recog- 
nize its claim to any land except that actually dis- 
covered, explored, and possessed. Kings, nations, priv- 
ate individuals even, sent out expeditions to discover 
and settle lands in the New World, hoping to find 
treasure and to reach Cathay and Cipango. We are 
particularly interested in John Cabot, whose discoveries 
gave England its first claim to the New World. 

John Cabot was not, like Columbus, a writer as well 
as a discoverer; we know little about his life, and the 
accounts of his discoveries are meager and contradic- 
tory. Cabot was born about 1450, so he was a few 
years younger than Columbus. Like him, he was by 
birth a native of Genoa. Cabot, however, moved to 
Venice and became an adopted son of that City of the 
Sea. He was a good navigator and went East on trad- 
ing ventures. Having an inquiring turn of mind, when 
he bought cargoes of spices he tried to learn something 
about the countries from which they came. 

Like most master-navigators of the time, Cabot was 



38 

a maker of maps and cliarts. lie also believed tliat tlio 
world is round; lie thought that Cathay and Cipango 
and " the spice lands " could be reached by sailing west. 
He tried in vain to secure the aid of Portugal or of 
Spain in fitting out an expedition to undertake the 
westward voyage. Columbus was one of many who 
were beginning to believe that the world was a sphere ; 
he was bolder and more persistent than most of them, 
and had the good fortune to prove the truth of his 
theory. 

About 1490 Cabot went to England " to follow the 
trade of merchandises " and to seek aid in his exploring 
projects. In 1496 he secured the countenance of 
Henry VII. of England, who granted John Cabot and 
his sons, Sebastian, Lewis, and Sanctius permission 
" for the discovery of new and unknown lands," " up- 
on their own proper cost and charges." In return for 
his countenance the king was to receive one-iifth of all 
profits. Much uncertainty surrounds Cabot's first voy- 
age. It is now thought that his son Sebastian did not 
accompany- him, as was long believed to be the case. 
Some say that Cabot had two ships, some say he had 
five, but an Italian acquaintance writing at the time 
says that ho made his discovery with only " one little 
ship of Bristol and eighteen men." 

Cabot set sail from Bristol in May and returned in 
August. He sailed northwest, and it is supposed that 
the land which he reached was Labrador. Erom the 



39 

time the IN'orsemen left " Vinlaiid the Good," Cabot was 
the first European to touch the mainland of North 
America. He sailed some distance along the coast of 
what he thought was " the land of the great Khan." 
He saw no inhabitants, but observed that the sea 
swarmed with fish, and on his return he suggested that 
England should send fishermen thither instead of de- 
pending on the fisheries of Iceland. He noted, too, 
that " the tides are slack and do not flow as they do 
here," that is, in England. 

A few days after Cabot's return, a Venetian who was 
in England wrote his family an account of the voyage. 
" His name is Zuan Cabot," he said, " and he is styled 
the great Admiral. Vast honor is paid to him ; he 
dresses in silk and the English run after him like mad 
people." The Venetian went on to say that Cabot 
" planted on his 'New found land " the flags of Eng- 
land and Venice. 

The king was so pleased with Cabot's first voyage of 
discovery that it was promised he should have fitted 
out for a second voyage a fleet of ten ships and to man 
it he was to have " all prisoners except traitors." Some 
merchants of Bristol aided in fitting out the expedition. 
With these ten ships, Cabot wished to go on westward 
to the east, hoping to reach Cipango, " where he thinks 
all the spices of the world and also all the precious 
stones originate." 

From the time that this second expedition was plan- 



40 

ned we lose sight of John Cabot. Whether he returned 
safe or died on the voyage, we do not know. The 
English did not then attach enough importance to the 
western world to make records of Cabot's voyages. 
They were disappointed at not finding gold and gems 
nor a direct passage to the East. To England in the 
early sixteenth century the new found land was valuable 
only as a " cod fish coast." 

Sebastian Cabot, the son of the " great Admiral," 
was, like his father, a chart-maker and navigator. He 
is said to have accompanied his father on one or both 
of his voyages, but there is no proof that he went on 
either. 

The great object of Sebastian Cabot's ambition was 
the discovery of a direct route to Asia. He undertook, 
under authority of the king of Spain, a westward ex- 
pedition to reach the Pacific. On this voyage he dis- 
covered a great river which he named La Plata. After- 
wards he returned to England and received from Ed- 
ward VI. a pension for his services as Great Pilot. 
In 1553, he took part in the expedition to find a north- 
east passage to Asia ; later, in search of a northwest 
passage, he sailed along the coast of America as far 
south, it is said, as Chesapeake Bay. 



41 

Sir Francis Drake 
A Famous English Adventurer 

The first expeditions which came to the 'New World 
were bent on discovery, exploration, conquest, and 
plunder. It was many years before any attempts at 
settlement were made. The Spaniards, as you know, 
kept a southernly course and reached the West Indies 
and the adjacent coasts of North and South America. 
They reached Mexico and Peru, and made themselves 
masters of silver, gold, and other treasures. 

It never occurred to them that the natives had any 
rights to be regarded. The only right that they recog- 
nized was that of the strongest. Against their war 
horses and coats of mail and firearms, what were the 
reed spears and arrows of the natives ? The Indians 
fell before the Spaniards like grain before the scythe. 

To the conquered natives, life was a worse fate than 
death. With brutal cruelty they were driven to labor 
in the mines for their taskmasters. Ship after ship 
crossed the ocean, bearing to Spain the treasures taken 
from these mines, or stolen from the homes and temples 
of the living and the tombs of the dead. 

But the Spaniards were not suffered to possess nor 
convey in peace their ill-gotten gains. The other na- 
tions of Europe took advantage of every pretext to 
spoil the spoiler. England was foremost in these at- 
tacks on Spain. The two countries were not at open 



42 

Avai\ but tliov were on unfriendly terms. The expedi- 
tions against Spain were nndertaken by bold seamen 
who took as nuich delight in the damage inflicted on 
Spain as in the booty gained. They were not openly 
authorized by the English queen, but it was understood 
that they would be overlooked and that Elizabeth was 
not averse to receiving a share of the booty. 

Among the freebooters most feared and hated by the 
Spaniards was Sir Francis Drake. This famous Eng- 
lish seamen was born about 1540, in Devonshire, 
Eiigland. He was one of the twelve sons of a poor 
naval chaplain, and it is said that he was educated 
at the expense of Sir John Hawkins, a famous naval 
officer who was his kinsman. At the age of eighteen, 
Drake had become master of a ship that traded between 
England and France and Holland. This vessel he 
sold, " the narrow seas not beine; large enough for his 
aspiring mind," and invested all his saving's in Haw- 
kins's expedition to Mexico. This fleet was defeated by 
the Spaniards, and Drake, who behaved gallantly in ac- 
tion, lost his all. He " vowed the Spaniards should pay 
him with interest," and shortly afterwards he made 
good his word. 

In 1572 with three small ships, he attacked and 
plundered several Spanish settlements on the Isthmus 
of Panama and brought away as much silver, gold, and 
jewels, as he could carry. During this expedition, ac- 
companied by eighteen Englishmen and thirty Indians, 



'43 

he made a journey across the Isthmus, From the top of 
a tree, he beheld the waters of the Pacific, and ex- 
pressed his resolve to " sail once in an English ship on 
that sea." After his return to England, he served four 
years in Ireland, hut he did not forget either the western 
ocean or his resolve. Secretly encouraged by Queen 
Elizabeth, he undertook an expedition " to discomfort 
the Spanish as far as possible." 

A few days before Christmas in 15Y7, he set sail 
from Plymouth, intending to pass through the Straits 
of Magellan and make the circuit of the globe. Drake's 
fleet consisted of five small vessels and a crew of a 
hundred and sixty-six men. In the end, two of these 
vessels were left on the coast of Brazil. As Drake 
passed the western coast of America he stopped to at- 
tack the Spanish settlements. We are told that his men 
" being weary, contented themselves with as many bars 
and wedges of gold as they could carry, burying above 
fifteen tons of silver in the sand and under old trees." 

In August, 1578, Drake entered the Straits of Magel- 
lan. Adverse currents and storms separated the three 
vessels and only the Golden Hind, originally called the 
Pelican, passed through to continue the course. Along 
the coasts of Chili and Peru the Englishmen sailed, 
plundering till they were w^eary of spoils. Erom one 
ship they got " a prodigious quantity of gold, silver, 
and jewels," — " thirteen chests of coin, eighty pounds of 
gold, twenty-six tons of silver, besides jewels and plate»" 



'44 

The writers of the time who give an exact list of the 
captured treasures passed lightly over the natural ob- 
jects and wonders of the New World. " They saw 
many strange birds, beasts, fishes, fruits, trees, and 
plants too tedious to mention," says one. 

Drake coasted along the western shore of America, 
trying to discover a passage to the Atlantic. He landed 
and claimed the country, which he called New Albion, 
for Queen Elizabeth and England. Turning from the 
severe cold of the northern seas, he sailed across the 
Pacific and the Indian Ocean, stopping at Java and 
other islands. Resuming his voyage, he doubled the 
Cape of Good Hope, and sailed along the coast of 
Africa. 

In November, 1579, he re-entered the harbor of 
Plymouth, having made the circuit of the globe in two 
years and ten months. He was the first commander to 
take his ship around the world ; Magellan, who had un- 
dertaken the same voyage, died on the route. Drake, 
" the master thief of the unknown world," at once be- 
came a popular hero. He presented to the queen 
" gTeat stores of silver, gold, and gems," and received 
from her the honor of knighthood. 

A few years later, war was openly declared between 
England and Spain. Drake was sent with a fleet to 
attack the Spanish colonies in America; he captured 
and plundered several settlements in the West Indies 
and in Florida, and burned the fort of St. Augustine. 



45 

Sailing on north to Sir Walter Ealeigh's colony at 
Eoanoke, he brought away the disheartened colonists. 
It is said that he carried back to England the potato 
and the tobacco, two plants contributed by the New 
World to the Old. 

Drake reached England in 1586, and the next year 
he led a fleet to inflict injury on the great Spanish 
fleet, proudly called the Invincible Armada, which was 
being collected to invade England. He entered the 
harbor of Cadiz and burned about a hundred ships. 
This he called " singeing the beard of the king of 
Spain." The Armada, delayed for a year by this mis- 
chance, was refitted and sailed to attack England. It 
is said that when the news of its approach was brought 
to Plymouth the commanders of the English fleet were 
playing bowls. Drake, who served as vice-admiral 
under Lord Howard, insisted on finishing the game, 
saying, " There is plenty of time to win the game and 
thrash the Spaniards, too ! " The great Armada was 
defeated by the brave little English fleet, aided by 
tempests and contrary winds. 

In 1589 Drake made an expedition to Portugal and 
a few years later he and Sir John Hawkins were sent 
with a fleet to attack the West Indies. He and his old 
commander could not agree on the plan of action, and 
their expedition was unsuccessful. Hawkins died at 
Porto Rico. A few weeks later, Drake died, " his 
death being supposed to be hastened by his unsuccess- 



'46 

fulness in liis voyage; his great spirit always accus- 
tomed to victory and success, not being able to bear the 
least check of fortune." 

Sir Walter Raleigh 
The Father of American Colonization 

You are not to suppose that the English claimed 
nothing of the I^ew World except what they could 
plunder from Spain. They were, on the whole, willing 
to respect the rights of Spain to the West Indies and 
to the adjacent parts of the continent which Spaniards 
had discovered and settled. 

More and more the English thought that it would 
be a good thing to have colonies in the New World 
to hold the land which they claimed by virtue of Cabot's 
discoveries. Eeasons for " western planting," or es- 
tablishing colonies in America, were given by Ilakluyt, 
an Englishman of the sixteenth century. Among its 
advantages, he said, were these, — (1) the soil yields 
products needed for England, (2) the passage was so 
easy " it may be made twice in the year," (3) " this 
enterprise may stay the Spanish king from flowing 
over all the face of that waste firm of America," (4) 
it may enlarge the glory of God and " provide safe and 
sure place" for religious refugees, (5) poor men and 
those of evil life may there begin anew, (G) wandering 
beggars '^ may there be unladen." 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



47 

The " Father of American Colonization " was an 
English gentleman, a soldier, conrtier, and anthor, Sir 
Walter Ealeigh. He was born in 1552 in Devonshire, 
a fair coastland, the home of Drake and many other 
hold seamen. In Ealeigh's home were several chil- 
dren, an own brother and three half-brothers, the chil- 
dren of his mother by a former marriage. One of 
these half-brothers, thirteen years his senior, was Hum- 
phrey Gilbert who grew to be a brave and enterprising 
gentleman. 

Walter Raleigh seems to have had little schooling in 
his youth. He chose war as his profession and spent 
several years fighting in France and the ]S!^etherlands. 
Meanwhile his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, ob- 
tained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of land for " plant- 
ing and inhabiting certain northern parts of America 
which extended beyond the twenty-fifth degree of north 
latitude." Raleigh returned to England and sailed 
with Gilbert in 1579 to N'ewfoundland ; storms and 
perhaps an encounter with the Spanish forced them to 
return without landing. 

Raleigh spent two years in Ireland, fighting to sup- 
press the risings there, then returned to England and 
became a favorite at court. There is a pretty story of 
the way in wdiich he was first brought to Queen Eliza- 
beth's notice and favor. It is said that one day the 
queen was walking with her attendants along the Lon- 
don streets, then rough and unpaved. She came to a 



4S 

mudhole, and hesitated for fear of soiling her shoes. 
Among the bystanders was Ealeigh, a handsome, grace- 
ful, gentleman-soldier. He took off his new velvet 
mantle and spread it upon the ground so that the queen 
might pass dry-shod. 

However he first won the queen's notice, he had by 
1583 become such a favorite that she was not willing 
for him to join Sir Humphrey Gilbert on a second ex- 
pedition to ]^ewfoundland. He contributed a large 
share of the expenses of this expedition, which was 
even more ill-fated than the former one. Sir Hum- 
phrey, it is true, reached Newfoundland and took pos- 
session of it, but on the return voyage the fleet was 
overtaken by storm, and two vessels, in one of which was 
Sir Humphrey, were lost. 

These disasters did not destroy Sir Walter's interest 
in discoveries. He got the queen to transfer to him 
the grant made to his half-brother, giving him for six 
years the privilege of sending out expeditions " to dis- 
cover such remote barbarous lands as were not actually 
possessed by any Christian people," and to take posses- 
sion of them in the name of the queen. 

Several expeditions were sent out under this grant, 
or patent, as it was called. The first, in 1584, con- 
sisted of two vessels under Captains Philip Amidas and 
Arthur Barlow. They reached the coast of North Caro- 
lina and cast anchor on the island of Roanoke, which 
they claimed in the queen's name and for Sir Walter's 



49 

use. The name Virginia was given to this land in 
honor of Elizabeth, the virgin queen. No settlement 
was made at that time but the next year seven vessels 
under Sir Richard Grenville were sent out with about 
a hundred colonists. They entered Chesapeake Bay and 
James Eiver and explored the country. Homesick- 
ness and hardships discouraged these colonists, and 
when Sir Francis Drake came to the settlement, after 
his expedition against the Spaniards in the West In- 
dies, they embarked with him and returned to England. 
A few days after their departure, reinforcements and 
supplies sent by Ealeigh reached the deserted colony. 

About this time tobacco, introduced into England by 
Lane, Hawkins, or Drake, was brought into use by Sir 
Walter Raleigh. Tytler says, " There is a well-known 
tradition that Sir Walter first began to smoke it pri- 
vately in his study, and his servant coming in as he 
was intent upon his book, seeing the smoke issuing from 
his mouth, threw all the liquor in his face by way of 
extingiiishing the fire ; and running down stairs alarmed 
the family with piercing cries that his master, before 
they could get up, would be burnt to ashes." 

In 1587 another colony of two hundred and fifty 
men under John White was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh. 
That summer a child was bom to Eleanor Dare, John 
Wliite's daughter ; this girl, the first English child bom 
in America, received the name of Virginia Dare. 

Fears of the Spanish invasion which threatened 



50 

England kept Sir Walter for several years from send- 
ing aid to the colony. When at last ships reached 
Eoanoke Island the colonists and all signs of them had 
disappeared ; on a tree was found carved the word 
" Croatoan," bnt what this meant no one ever knew. 

Raleigh now gave up his patent to a company in 
London, from whicli he was to receive one-fifth of gold 
and silver found in the lands discovered. He gave up 
his colonizing plans in order to fight the Spaniards. 
The queen, however, would not consent to his going, as 
he wished, on the English expedition to seize the Span- 
ish treasure-fleet. His place was taken by Sir Richard 
Grenville, the story of whose gallant death is told in 
Lord Tennyson's ballad, " The Revenge." 

Later, Raleigh sent out an expedition to the interior 
of South America ; he believed that in Guiana was sit- 
uated El Dorado, a fabled land of gold and treasure. 
He himself on a later voyage went four hundred miles 
up the Orinoco River and brought back some gold and 
the first mahogany wood seen in England. He wrote 
an account of his " Discovery of the Large, Rich, and 
Beautiful Empire of Guiana." 

In 1603 James I. succeeded Elizabeth on the English 
throne, and from that time Raleigh was in disfavor. 
He was accused of treason ; on the unproved charge he 
was condemned to death and was kept in prison about 
thirteen years with the sentence hanging over him. 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



51 

During this time ho devoted himself to study and wrote 
his noble " History of the World." 

He was released in 1616 to lead an expedition to 
the Orinoco. There he had a skirmish with the Span- 
iards and brought back no treasure to appease the king 
for this attack on the enemy with wliicli Janios wa^ 
trying to keep on friendly terms. The old charge > 
treason was revived, and Sir Walter was belieadfd in 
1618, really as a sacrifice to gain the good will of 
Spain. " We have not such another head to be cut 
off," said a bystander at the execution. 

Captain John Smith 

" Let him not boast who puts his armor on 
As he who puts it off, the battle done," 

says an American poet. To the credit of John Smith — 
soldier, leader, reformer, discoverer, author — be it 
remembered that he never " talked big " till he had 
" acted big," — that his deeds ever went lx>fore his 
words. 

He was the first Englishman who wrote a book in 
the United States. His " True Relation of Virginia " 
was written in the intervals between tree-cutting, house- 
building, exploration, and adventure, and sent by the 
vessel which returned to England in June, 1608. 
Much doubt has been cast — Fiske and other historians 



52 

assert that it has been unjustly cast — on Smith's state- 
ments. In details — dates and figures — we may be- 
lieve that the soldier-author was not always accurate. 
Had he misrepresented facts, or misstated essentials, 
however, we may be sure he would have been promptly 
and eagerly contradicted by the " gentlemen of rank " 
who were actors and eye-witnesses with him, and who 
never missed an opportunity to vent their jealous hate 
on plain John Smith who outshone them all. 

John Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England, about 
1580. As a child he longed for a life of adventure, 
and when he was thirteen he sold his school-books and 
planned to go to sea ; however, he thought better of the 
matter and remained at home two years longer with his 
mother. After her death he went to the Continent 
and became a soldier. He served in France and in 
Holland and then drifted East to fight against the 
Turks. There, he tells us, he had wonderful adven- 
tures. During a siege he fought three Turkish soldiers, 
one after another, and killed them all. Later, he was 
taken prisoner and sold as a slave, but escaped. He 
made his way home, through Russia, Austria, Spain, 
and Morocco. When he reached England in 1605, he 
found an expedition being planned to settle the New 
World and he resolved to join it. 

The first English expeditions to make settlements in 
America were sent out under the authority of Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Ealeigh, and other individ- 



53 

uals. Later on, the difficult and expensive work of 
colonization was undertaken by companies. These had 
regular trading agents and workmen, and expected rich 
profits from trade with the colonies. The colonies in 
the New World were encouraged by the sovereign, also, 
who regarded them as a check on the power of Spain 
to the south and on that of France to the north. 

A band of about a hundred men sent out by the Lon- 
don Company, left England in December, 160G, in 
three little vessels, the Discovery, the Good Speed, and 
the Susan Constant. The party was led by Christapher 
Newport who had served under Ealeigh and had him- 
self captured Spanish treasure-ships. After a round- 
about voyage by the West Indies, further delayed by 
contrary winds, in the spring of 1607 the colonists 
entered a noble bay. " The low shores were covered 
with flowers of divers colors ; the goodly trees were in 
full foliage, and all nature seemed kind and benignant." 

The Englishmen called the capes on either side of the 
bay Cape Henry and Cape Charles, in honor of the 
king's two sons ; the river up which they sailed and the 
settlement they founded were named for King James. 
The landing at Jamestown was made May 13, 1607. 

The band was ill fitted for the work before it. In it 
there were only a few workmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, 
and masons, and many " gentlemen " — men " that 
never did know what a day's work was," and that 
came for adventure or in search of gold. There had 



54 

heen, it seems, jealous disputes on the way out, and 
John Smith had been put under arrest. After they 
landed, the settlers opened the sealed instructions given 
when they left England and found that Smith was ap- 
pointed one of the directors of the colony; at first he 
was not allowed to take his place, but in course of time 
he became not only a director, but president, of the 
colony. 

Some of the colonists busied themselves those spring 
days planting gardens as in England, and planting 
also cotton and orange trees, we are told. Others 
looked around for gold and set out to discover the Pacific 
Ocean, which they thought was near at hand. Unfor- 
tunately a malarial site had been chosen for the colony, 
and in the hot, wet summer, the men, unaccustomed to 
the climate, fell sick. 

Their ill-health was increased by bad water and lack 
of food. By September half of the hundred colonists 
had died of famine and fever : there were not enough 
able-bodied men to bury the dead in decent fashion ; 
the bodies were " trailed out of their cabins like dogs to 
be buried." Fortunately the Indians did not choose 
this time for an attack ; instead, they brought corn and 
game to trade for beads, bells, and other trinkets. 

The Indians of this section were Algonquins, like 
those later encountered in Massachusetts, but these were 
stronger and more hostile. They attacked the white 
men, " crecj^ing from the hills like bears, with their 



55 

bows in their mouths." They were repulsed, but for 
many years there was the fear and danger of them for 
the colonists. 

The Jamestown colony, like many of the other early 
ones, was managed by a " common-store system." All 
food and supplies raised or bought were put into a 
common store-house and dealt out in equal portions. 
All articles collected for export were put into a common 
store and sent back to England. There was no reward 
for individual effort, and many of the colonists shirked 
work or labored in a half-hearted fashion. 

There was one man who was always ready to do his 
part and do it well. This was John Smith. He helped 
cut trees, and build cabins, and erect a log palisade 
around the settlement. He was liked and feared by 
the Indians from whom he secured corn needed by the 
colonists. He was a sober and upright man and en- 
deavored to establish law and order in the colony. In 
order to check the use of bad language, he had account 
kept of the oaths uttered by each man and at night for 
each one a can of cold water was poured down his sleeve. 
Strict as he was, he was always just and reasonable ; 
he set the example of working hard, and never required 
of others more than he was willing to perform him- 
self. 

His chief relaxation was an adventurous journey in 
boat or afoot through the country, of which he gave a 
glowing description. " Here are mountains, hills, 



plains," he said, " and rivers and brooks all running 
most pleasantly into a fair bay, compassed but for the 
mouth, with fruitful and delightsome land. . . . 
The vesture of the earth in most places doth manifestly 
prove the nature of the soil to be lusty and very rich." 

On one of the expeditions, in December, 1607, into 
Powhatan's country he and the men with him w^re 
captured. He was carried to the chief Powhatan — an 
old man Avho was " well beaten with many cold and 
stormy winters," said Captain Smith. Captain Smith 
tells us that he w^as released at the request of the chief's 
daughter, Pocahontas, just as he was about to be killed. 
This story has been doubted. Nothing is said about it 
in the '' True Relation " sent from Virginia in 1608. 
But this book was brought out by the directors of the 
Company. It was not to their interest to publish an 
incident which showed that the settlers had the hostility 
of the great Indian chief. The Company wished the 
colony to be thought successful and prosperous so as 
to induce men to go out. Later, settlers found it im- 
possible to inform their friends at home of their suf- 
ferings. 

In 1608 came more colonists, including some women 
and children. In this year Captain Smith set out in 
an open boat and explored Chesapeake Bay, of which 
he made a map that remained the authoritative one for 
over a hundred years. Smith returned to Jamestown 
in September, and was elected president of th(3 colony 



57 

which was in sore straits, needing a firm and able man 
at its head. " You must obey this now for a law," 
he said, " He that will not work shall not eat." Under 
this rule disorder was suppressed and idlers were forced 
to labor. Smith's prudence and wisdom saved the col- 
ony from ruin. 

In 1609 five hundred new colonists came out, com- 
manded by men hostile to Smith. He seems to have 
been in frequent conflict with them, and finally he re- 
turned to England to defend himself against their 
charges and to have treatment for a painful wound. 
After his departure, took place the terrible '^ Starv- 
ing Time." The colonists refused to work, they were 
attacked by the Indians, and laid waste by disease. By 
famine, fever, and war, the colonists in a few months 
were reduced in numbers from five hundred to sixty. 
They embarked to leave the scene of misery, but met 
a ship containing food and supplies and turned back. 
Thus near failure came the colony which laid the foun- 
dation of English civilization, and religious and civil 
liberty in America. After a time the common store 
system was abolished and each man was given land to 
cultivate for himself; then "three men did more than 
thirty before." In 1612 John Rolfe began the cultiva- 
tion of tobacco and this became the currency of the 
colony, the source of its wealth and prosperity. 

Captain Smith never revisited the Jamestown colony. 
In 1614 he came as "Admiral of New England" tQ 



68 

explore l^orth Virginia, as the northern part of America 
was called, and made a map of the country which he 
called New England. The next year Smith set out 
with the intention of planting a colony in New England. 
But he was taken prisoner by the French, and finally 
made his way back to England. There he spent quietly 
the sixteen years remaining to him. lie wrote in 1616 
a "Description of New England;" in 1621 he con- 
tributed a description of Virginia to a " General History 
of Virginia," which was compiled at the request of the 
London Company. At the time of his death, in 1631, 
he was busy writing a " History of the Sea." 

Pocahontas 

An Indian Princess 

The white men who came to America naturally felt 
much interest in the new race of people which they 
called Indians. These were divided into tribes, differ- 
ing in dialects, habits, and customs, but resembling one 
another in many respects. They lived, for the most 
part, in tents, called wigwams, made of skins or bushes. 
Their garments were usually made of the skins of buf- 
faloes, deer, and other animals ; they wore, also, beauti- 
ful mantels of feathers, strings of pearl, and ornaments 
of copper, silver, and gold. Their food was the game 
and fish obtained by the skill of the men, and the maize 
iind beans raised in the fields tilled by the women and 



59 

children. Their tools and weapons were made of sharp 
stones and of sticks hardened in the fire; the use of 
iron was unknown. 

Powhatan was the chief of the strong and warlike 
tribes of Indians which the English colonists found 
dwelling on the banks of the River James. Powhatan 
had many children, one of whom, a daughter, called 
Pocahontas, was about twelve years old when the 
English settled in Jamestown. Captain Smith says 
that when he was a prisoner in one of her father's 
wigwams she visited and made friends with him. 
When he was sentenced to death, he tells us that she 
interceded for him and that his life was spared at her 
request. According to Indian custom, the enemy whose 
life was thus granted became a son of the tribe; and 
Captain Smith lived for awhile with Powhatan's tribe. 
In the course of time he was allowed to return to his 
countrymen at Jamestown. 

There were few farmers among the English settlers 
and they had to learn to adapt their methods to the 
crops and climate of the new land. Their crops were 
scanty at first and they often suffered for food. In 
times of need, the Indian maiden, Pocahontas, more 
than once came to their relief, bringing food. She 
went, too, at night to warn the people of an intended 
Indian attack. No wonder the English called her " the 
dear and blessed Pocahontas." 

Powhatan seems to have been from the first suspicious 



60 

of the wMte men; as time passed lie came more and 
more to dislike and fear them. He had allowed them 
to settle on his land, thinking that they wanted it, 
Indian-fashion, for a season of hunting and fishine;. 
But year after year passed and the white men remained 
in possession. Many died and some returned to Eng- 
land, but for every one that died or went away ten 
came. Powhatan would have liked to drive them away, 
but the Indians, with bows and war clubs, were no 
match for the white men, with guns and swords. Pow- 
hatan resolved to get guns and swords and make them 
fight against the white men. In one way and another, 
he got possession of many weapons, — some were bought 
with corn, some were stolen, some were taken from pris- 
oners. 

The matter became so serious that Captain Argall 
devised a plan to get back the weapons and also some 
prisoners taken by Powhatan. At this time, 1614, Po- 
cahontas was visiting some friends who lived near the 
Potomac River. Captain Argall persuaded an Indian 
named Japazaws, and his wife, to entice Pocahontas on 
board his vessel. The Indian woman pretended that 
she wished to go on board to see the ship and her hus- 
band told her she could not go alone. To gratify her, 
Pocahontas agreed to accompany her. Captain Argall 
" secretly well rewarded Japazaws with a small copper 
kettle " and some other articles, which we are told he 



61 

valued so highly that " doubtless he would have betrayed 
his own father for them." 

Pocahontas was carried to Jamestown, and messages 
were sent to her father that '' Powhatan's delight and 
darling " would be held prisoner until the English men 
and weapons were surrendered. " This news was un- 
welcome and troublesome unto him partly for the love 
he bore to his daughter and partly for the love he 
bore to our men, his prisoners . . . and those 
swords and firearms of ours," says an old historian. 
After three months delay, Powhatan sent seven men and 
some guns and offered these and a store of corn for his 
daughter's release ; the English, however, refused to re- 
lease Pocahontas till all that they required was done. 

Month after month passed. It was now eight years 
since Pocahontas, the child, had first seen English faces. 
She was a woman grown — gentle, generous, and noble 
of nature. John Rolfe, " a gentleman of approved be- 
havior and honest carriage," loved the Indian maiden 
and his love was returned. Pocahontas was baptized 
and given the Christian name of Eebecca. Then she 
and Eolfe were married in the church at Jamestown, 
April 5, 1614. " Ever since then," says the historian 
Hamor, " we have had friendly commerce and trade, not 
only with Powhatan, but also with all his subjects round 
about us." 

About two years after Pocahontas and Rolfe were 



62 

married they went to England, carrying with them their 
little son. John Smith wrote a letter to the queen tell- 
ing how Pocahontas had saved his life and the colony 
and bespeaking for her the queen's favor. She was 
received at court like a princess. " She did not only 
accustom herself to civility," says a writer of the time, 
'' but carried herself as the daughter of a king." The 
Indian princess never returned to her native land. On 
the eve of her departure, she was taken ill and died in 
England, leaving one little son. 

Miles Standish. 
A Pilgrim Leader 

Early in the seventeenth century, James I. was king 
of England. He was a very self-willed man and was 
unwilling for his subjects to differ from him in religious 
or political matters. Naturally, all men were not will- 
ing to accept his opinions. Some were so unwilling 
to be dictated to by the king that they preferred to 
leave their homes in England and go where they could 
worship according to their own preferences. Some of 
these men, called Separatists because they had separated 
themselves from the established church of England, 
went in 1607 to Holland. 

There they had full liberty in religious matters, but 
after a time they became dissatisfied. 

The Dutch people were not strict enough in the ob- 



63 

servance of Sunday to please them, and their children 
were learning Dutch language and customs and would 
grow up to be Dutch men and women instead of Eng- 
lish. These Separatists loved their native land and 
wanted their children to grow up English, but with 
their own religious views. Moreover, fighting between 
Spain and Holland was beginning again after ten years 
of peace and the Englishmen did not wish to become 
involved in this war. 

So they resolved to go to the New World and estab- 
lish a settlement there. They discussed many places 
before they decided where to go. They thought of 
Guiana which Raleigh had described as being fertile of 
soil and mild of climate, but they remembered his 
fights with the Spaniards and wished to avoid so 
troublesome a neighbor. There was the same objection 
to Florida, where a French colony had been destroyed 
by the Spaniards. They did not care to go to the 
English settlement at Jamestown, where the peo- 
ple were devoted to the Established Church of Eng- 
land and observed its forms even more strictly 
than people in England. They did not wish to go 
to the far north, for some Englishmen had already 
tried to settle in Maine and had come home with pitiful 
tales of their suffering during the severe winters. The 
Pilgrims, as these English religionists began to be called, 
from travelino; about so much, at last decided to settle 
between Jamestown and Maine, about the coast of what 



64 

is now New Jersey. They obtained a charter from the 
" i^orth Virginia Company," the Plymouth brancli of 
the Virginia Company, which controlled from 41 to 
45 degrees, giving them permission to settle in the 
southern part of K^orth Virginia. 

One hundred and two Pilgrims sailed in the May- 
flower from Plymouth, England, in September, 1620. 
One of the men on board the Mayflower was Miles 
Standish, who was to be the soldier-savior of the north- 
ern English colony as John Smith was of the southern 
one. 

Miles Standish was born about 1584 in England; 
he is said to have been the heir of a noble English 
family who was deprived of his rights. He entered 
the army and was sent by Queen Elizabeth to help the 
Dutch in their war against Spain. He was probably 
about nineteen or twenty then, and he seems to have re- 
mained in Holland after peace was made, and there he 
met the Pilgrims. His portraits represent him as a 
small man clad in leathern jacket and high boots, wear- 
ing a cartridge belt across his shoulder. He did not 
adopt the Pilgrims' faith or ever become a member of 
their church, but he was a brave and faithful comrade. 

The voyage was a long and stormy one. During it 
one member of the party died and was consigned to an 
ocean grave. Two months after leaving England, land 
was sighted, K^ovember 20, 1620. This land was a 



65 

point marked Cape James on Captain Smith's map ; the 
name Cape Cod was given it later on account of the 
quantity of codfish caught there by Gosnold's men in 
the expedition of 1602. Cape Cod was farther north 
than the Pilgrims had intended to go, and they sailed 
southward hut were turned back by " dangerous shoals 
and roaring breakers " and unfavorable winds. 

The men met in the cabin of the Mayflower to dis- 
cuss the situation. The shore they were approaching 
was not the land granted by their charter and therefore 
its laws did not apply there. They decided to estab- 
lish their colony on the coast and they signed an agree^ 
ment to obey such laws as they should make for their 
guidance. John Carver was chosen governor. 

The Pilgrims made several trips ashore to get wood 
and water and to explore the country. Captain Stand- 
ish led his party of sixteen soldiers, in warlike array, 
armed with muskets and swords ; they had no need to 
use their weapons, as the only Indians they saw fled 
at their approach. The chief event of the expedition 
was finding some corn in a mound; they carried it to 
the ship and later, when they were informed to whom it 
belonged, they paid the owners for it. 

Other expeditions were made along the coast and up 
the streams in a shallop, or small boat. Often the 
spray froze on their clothes and " made them many 
times like coats of iron." 
E 



GG 

While the Pilgrims tarried on the coast a child was 
born, son of William White and they called him Pere- 
grine from a Latin word meaning " pilgrim." 

After exploring the country for several weeks, the 
Pilgrims determined to settle at a place called on Cap- 
tain Smith's map Plymouth, which was the name of the 
city from which they had sailed. On December 21, 
1620, the men landed on the great boulder known as 
Plymouth Rock. Their first work was to build a 
" Common House " ; January 31, 1621, this was com- 
pleted and the women and children landed. The Pil- 
grims were not molested by Indians, but cold and fam- 
ine were enemies that almost destroyed them. During 
the winter most of the colonists were ill and more than 
half of the hundred died ; of eighteen women, only four 
survived the winter. One of those who died was Cap- 
tain Standish's wife. 

At one time only seven men — one of whom was 
Captain Standish — were able to work. These seven, 
says Bradford their historian, tended the sick, cooked, 
washed, and did all the work indoors and outdoors. 
Rude houses were built of logs, with thatched roofs 
and windows of oiled paper. A church w-as erected 
which had cannon on top of it, so that at need it might 
serve as a fort. 

To keep the Indians from suspecting their weakness, 
the Pilgrims leveled the graves and in the spring planted 
corn over them. On the whole, the Indians were 



67 

friendly. One day an Indian approached the settle- 
ment and " saluted us in English and bade us ' wel- 
come.' " This was Samoset, " a tall straight man, the 
hair of his head black, long behind and short before 
and no beard. lie was naked except for a strip of 
leather about his waist, which had a fringe a span long 
or more. He had a bow and two arrows, the one bended 
the other not." Samoset had learned broken English 
from fishermen who came to the coast of Maine. With 
him came later Squanto, the only survivor of the tribe 
which had lived near Plymouth and which had been 
destroyed by plague. Squanto showed the English how 
to plant corn and to enrich the soil with fish. Another 
of the visitors w^as Massasoit, an Indian chief, who 
made a " treaty of friendship " which was kept fifty 
years. 

In April the Mayflower returned to England, but 
despite the hardships and sufferings of that terrible 
winter, not one of the Pilgrims went back. They were 
busy making cabins, cultivating gardens and fields, get- 
ting fish and game for food, building up a home in 
the wilderness. They traded with the Indians for 
beaver skins, collected sassafras, and sent furs and lum- 
ber back to England, laboring to repay the money 
borrowed to defray their expenses. At first and for 
several years the Pilgrims, like the Jamestow^n settlers, 
labored together ; they prospered more after the land 
:was divided and each man worked for himself. 



68 

They had a prosperous season and good crops and 
in the fall they celebrated their harvest and the end 
of their first year in the new land by a feast, — the first 
Thanksgiving. Fish and wild fowl and game were 
cooked in the big fireplaces or on wood fires out of 
doors. Massasoit came with about ninety men, bring- 
ing five deer as his contribution to the feast. There 
was a military drill and a shooting match, and three 
days were spent in merry-making. Year after year 
the Pilgrims observed this festival, and it came at last 
to be a national holiday. 

The ISTarragansett Indians were unfriendly and the 
Pilgrims had to be on their guard against them. At 
one time Canonicus, their chief, sent the settlers a rat- 
tlesnake skin filled with arrows as a declaration of 
war; it was sent back filled with powder and balls, in 
token that the white men were ready to defend them- 
selves. A strong fence, or palisade, was built around 
the settlement. In many ways the Pilgrims lived like 
soldiers on duty. Sunday morning . at beat of drum, 
people marched to church. Each man had his weapon 
near in case of Indian attack. 

More than once Indians tried to kill Miles Standish, 
the brave and prudent little captain. One gigantic 
Indian, Pecksuot, ridiculed him because he was small ; 
in a fight soon after Pecksuot was killed. " I see you 
are big enough to lay him on the ground," said one of 
the Indians. 



09 

About 1623 Captain Standisli married a second time, 
his wife being an English woman, the sister of his 
first wife. In " The Courtship of Miles Standish " 
Longfellow tells a romance — for so far as we know 
it had no foundation in fact — about the fiery little 
Captain's unsuccessful wooing by proxy of a maiden 
named Priscilla Mullins. The poem gives a vivid pic- 
ture of Captain Standish and of life in the New Eng- 
land colony. 

In 1625 Captain Standish made a voyage to Eng- 
land on business for the colony, but he returned in a few 
months. He subdued the English settlers at Merry- 
mount who were selling arms to the Indians, and were 
living idle, drunken lives. 

In eight years the Plymouth colony had grown so 
that Elder Brewster, John Alden, and Miles Standish 
went one summer to Duxbury on the north side of the 
bay ; Standish made his home there on a high hill called 
Captain's HiU. His sword and musket were now laid 
aside and he was busy plowing and tending his farm, 
settling sites for mills, practicing his skill in medicine, 
and serving the public welfare in peaceful ways. The 
brave, honorable, helpful man died October 3, 1656, 
and was buried at his home on Captain's Hill. For 
forty years he had been the leading spirit in every 
undertaking requiring courage and military skill. 

" For Standish no work was too difficult or danger- 
ous, none too humble or disagreeable. As captaiu and 



TO 

magistrate, as engineer and explorer, as interpreter 
and merchant, as a tender nurse in pestilence, a phy- 
sician at all times, and as the Cincinnatus of his colony, 
he showed a wonderful versatility of talent and the high- 
est nobility of character." 

John Winthrop. 
A Puritan Governor 

After the death of King James, his son Charles be- 
came king. Like his father, he was bent on having his 
own way; as often happens, his stubbornness made those 
opposed to him more stubborn. The people refused to 
submit to his dictation, and many of those who dif- 
fered from the king in matters of religion and politics 
came to America, where a new England was being 
built up. From 1628 to 1640 there were more emi- 
grants from England to America than came during the 
whole of the century which followed. 

In 1628 a company of men secured from the Council 
of New England a patent to a tract of land in Mas- 
sachusetts between the Merrimac and Charles Rivers 
and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean 
which was thought to be near the Hudson Eiver. John 
Endicott was sent out that year with a small colony 
which settled at Salem, Massachusetts. He was a self- 
willed, blunt man and tried to regulate the affairs of 
the colony according to his ideas. He made laws 




GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP 



71 

against wearing wigs, for instance, and required women 
to wear veils to church. 

The first winter was a hard one for the colonists and 
thej were " forced to lengthen out their own food with 
acorns." Like the Pilgrims, however, the Puritans, 
whose religious belief was similar to that of the Pil- 
grims, held fast their resolution and endured hardship 
rather than return to old England where they were 
not free to worship according to their own faith. 

In March, 1629, a company of prominent and wealthy 
Puritans secured a charter from the king, giving them 
the right to make for their colony such laws as they 
pleased provided they were not contrary to the laws 
of England. Under this charter six ships came, bring- 
ing men, women, children, cattle, arms, and tools, to 
establish a Puritan commonwealth. One of the six 
ships was the Mayflower which had brought over the 
Pilgrims nine years before. The six-weeks voyage 
seemed " short and speedy " in those days, and the 
Puritans landed on a June day when the land was 
fair with summer. How unlike the wintry landing of 
the Pilgrims ! In one year the Salem colony outnum- 
bered the Plymouth colony which had been established 
nearly ten years. 

The Puritans had obtained a charter from the king, 
but the question was would they be able to keep it? 
The king was as ready to break as to make a promise, 
and th^ Puritan leaders feared that he would call for 



72 

and withdraw the much-prized charter. How could 
they keep it safe ? At last they devised a plan. It 
was not stipulated where the Company should meet, so 
they resolved to move its headquarters and carry the 
charter to the New World. The Puritans took good 
care not to let the king know of this plan. The members 
who did not wish to leave England resigned, and in 
their places were elected men who were willing to emi- 
grate to secure civil and religious privileges. 

The king was much disj)leased when he learned that 
the Massachusetts Company and its charter had gone 
across the ocean, but just then nothing was done about 
the matter. Later on, an unsuccessful attempt was 
made to get the charter from the people. 

The governor elected by the Massachusetts company 
was John Winthrop, one of the noblest men who 
aided in the making of New England. Winthrop 
was a gentleman by birth, gracious, gentle, and 
charitable in private life, intense — and sometimes 
intolerant — in his religious views. When he joined 
the "great emigration" of 1630, he was forty-one 
years of age, having l^een born the very year 
that the Spanish Armada was destroyed. With eight 
hundred men and the precious charter, Winthrop sailed 
to the New World. A few days were spent at Salem, 
and then it was decided to make a settlement at Charles- 
tOTMi. But the site proved unfortunate. There was 



much sickness the first summer, caused, it was thought, 
by impure drinking water. 

Not far from the little settlement was what was 
called Shawmut peninsula ; here lived a Mr, Blackstone 
who had come from England to lead a hermit's life. 
He pitied the sufferings of his neighbors and country- 
men, and invited them to come to Shawmut where the 
air and water were excellent. They came and found 
the situation so favorable that they bought land from 
Mr. Blackstone ; in September they laid there the foun- 
dations of a city which they called Boston for the 
English city of Boston from which many of them 
came. Shawmut peninsula was called Trimountain 
Peninsula from its three hills. 

Like the settlers at Plymouth, the Salem colonists 
were often in want of food during the first years. 
Until they could cultivate farms and raise crops, food 
had to be brought from England, for there was no farm- 
ers and no tradespeople in the New World from whom 
it could be obtained. The loss or delay of a ship bear- 
ing supplies meant want and suffering for the colonists. 
On one occasion, expected supplies failed to come to 
the Puritans and a fast day was appointed to pray 
for relief. As Governor Winthrop was dividing his 
last handful of meal with a needy neighbor, a ship 
laden with food entered the harbor. The devout peo- 
ple went to church to give thanks and changed the ap- 
pointed fast to a feast, 



jSTot all the people who had come to Massachusetts 
were willinc; to endure the hardships of the new life. 
About a hundred went back to England, but Governor 
Winthrop, with the more unselfish and zealous Puritans, 
remained. 

Governor Winthrop endeavored to set the people an 
example of a sober and upright life. He became con- 
vinced that the drinking of healths at meals accord- 
ing to the English custom led to intemperance. He re- 
strained it at his own table and thus became the leader 
of temperance reform in the New World. 

One winter day he was informed that a poor man 
who lived near him was taking fuel from his woodpile. 
" Go call that man to me," he said, " I'll warrant I'll 
cure him of stealing." When the man came he said, 
" Friend, it is a severe winter and I doubt you are but 
meanly provided with wood ; wherefore I would have 
you supply yourself at my woodpile till this cold sea- 
son be over." He then asked his friends whether he 
had not cured this man of stealing his wood. 

Winthrop's charity, however, did not extend to mat- 
ters of religion. He wished to have those of unlike 
religious views " well whipt." The Puritans had come 
to America to establish a colony which should be ruled 
according to their owti views and faith. They did not 
tolerate in it men who diifered from them in belief. 
" Let such go elsewhere," they thought; " there is room 
enough." 



The Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Company 
encouraged colonists of their own faith to emigrate. By 
1634 four thousand had come and about twenty vil- 
lages had been founded on or near the bay. Houses, 
churches, and shops were built ; farms were tilled ; fur, 
lumber, and salt fish were sent to England and manu- 
factured goods were brought back. 

The laws of the Massachusetts colony were very 
strict. People were taxed to support the church, and 
only men who were church members were allowed to 
vote or to hold office as magistrates. Everyone was 
required to attend church services. If any one was 
absent without good reason the " tithing man " was 
sent after him. In church men sat on one side and 
women on the other; there was a man to keep order 
and he had a long stick with which to tap people who 
slept or children who fidgeted during the service which 
lasted two, or three, or even four hours. Children 
were whipped and grown people were fined if they 
talked in church. 

A young clergyman of Salem, Eoger Williams, of 
whom you will hear more later, thought that these laws 
were too strict. He thought people ought to enjoy 
civil and religious liberty, but Goveraor Winthrop ad- 
vised him to leave the colony as no one with such views 
was wanted there. 

Governor Winthrop spent much of his fortune in 
helping the colony he had founded and had the joy of 



76 

seeing it grow and prosper. He died March 26, 1640. 
In 1692 the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Col- 
onies were united under the name of Massachusetts, 
and thus was founded the colony which in time be- 
came the state of Massachusetts. 

Roger Williams 
An Advocate of Eeligious Liberty 

You have learned that the Plymouth and Massachu- 
setts Bay colonists came to America to found colonies 
goterned according to their own views. This was 
because they were convinced these views were right, 
not because they believed that every man should 
be free to worship as he pleased. Liberty of faith and 
worship, they thought, would destroy all law and or- 
der. 

Roger Williams, however, believed in civil freedom 
and religious liberty. He was a clever young Welsh- 
man who had been educated as a clergyman and had 
adopted Baptist views. He and his wife came from 
England to America in 1631. Por awhile he was pas- 
tor of a church in Boston, but his views were so dif- 
ferent from those of his congregation that he did not 
stay there long. He went to Salem, then to Plymouth, 
and then back to Salem. He had much influence and 
won many people to his views. The Massachusetts 
Bay Puritans began to dislike him and to fear his in- 



11 

fluence; there were long debates and discussions as to 
what should be done about him. They objected to both 
his political and his religious beliefs. 

Koger Williams thought that the laws of a country 
should prevent and punish crime and should not di- 
rect religious matters ; these, he urged, should be left 
to men's own consciences. He said that every man 
should be free to believe what he chose, and that it 
was wrong to tax people to support a certain church or 
to compel them to attend it. He said that every man 
ought to be allowed to vote, and that for magistrates 
sensible, upright men ought to be chosen without re- 
gard to their church membership. These things were 
contraiy to the belief of the Massachusetts Bay colony 
and to its practices. 

Williams said, moreover, that the king of England 
had no right to grant lands in America to any one ; 
these belonged to the Indians and should be secured 
from them. This assertion was regarded as a defiance 
of the king's authority. Finally it was resolved to send 
Williams away from the colony, and in January, 1636, 
the General Court ordered him to come to Boston to 
get on a ship that was about to sail to England. Wil- 
liams knew well that return to England meant imprison- 
ment or punishment for his views. Instead of going to 
Boston, he left his home in Salem one bleak, snowy day 
and took refuge in the forest. From his first coming 
to the colony he had made friends with the Indians. 



18 

l^ow he made bis way to the wigwam of Massasoit, 
where he spent the winter, trying to teach the savages 
the truths of the Christian religion. For weeks he was 
" sorely tost in a bitter season, not knowing what bread 
or bed did mean." 

He then settled on Seekonk River and planted corn, 
thinking that he was beyond the bounds of the Plymouth 
colony. But he was still within its limits ; in the 
spring Governor Winthrop informed him that he would 
be let alone if he would " steer his course " to Narra- 
gansett Bay. 

With a few companions who had adopted his views, 
Williams crossed the bay in an Indian canoe, made 
a covenant of peace with the natives, and established 
a settlement which he called Providence. This colony 
became a place of refuge for people oppressed on ac- 
count of their religious views. " I desired it might be 
a shelter for persons distressed for conscience," said 
Williams. It was to be free to " Baptists, Protestants, 
Jews, or Turks," he said, " to all men of all nations 
and countries." 

Among the people who took refuge there was Mrs. 
Anne Hutchinson. She was a woman preacher, claim- 
ing to have the spirit of prophecy, who had been driven 
out from the Massachusetts colony. After some peace- 
ful years in Rhode Island, she moved westward to a 
settlement of her own. Here she, her children, and 
servants were murdered by Indians. 



79 

Roger Williams refused to persecute Quakers who 
were very unpopular in all the other colonies. The re- 
ligious liberty enjoyed in this colony seems to us to- 
day, when it is the general custom, entirely right and 
reasonable, but it seemed very strange and unreason- 
able to people at that time. Among the people of 
different religious views who took refuge in Rhode 
Island, there was a great deal of arguing and quarrel- 
ing. It was said " any man who had lost his religion 
would be sure to find it again at some village in Rhode 
Island." 

In 1643, Williams went to England and secured a 
charter for his colony. It was called " Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations," and it is to be remem- 
bered as the first colony which by its laws secured en- 
tire religious toleration. The Massachusetts Bay and 
Plymouth Colonies so disapproved of the principles on 
which it was founded that they would not unite with 
it in joint action. But the Rhode Island colony was a 
great safeguard and protection to them. It was the 
influence and friendship of Roger Williams which kept 
the fierce Narragansetts from taking up arms against 
the white men at a time when it would have been dan- 
gerous and perhaps fatal to the struggling young colo- 
nies. 

The exact date of Roger Williams' death is uncer- 
tain. He is said to have lived to the age of eighty- 
four, devoting himself to the interests of his colony, 
which he lived to see prosperous and flourishing. 



80 



Henry Hudson 

As time passed, people "became convinced that the 
land which Columbns had reached was not the shore 
of Asia as they had at first thought. For more than 
a hundred years, however, they thought that it was 
only a narrow body of land and that a passage, or 
many passages, would be found connecting the Atlantic 
with the ocean to the west and opening a direct route 
to India. It was not strange that they held this theory. 
The early explorers had reached the land at its nar- 
rowest part and beheld from the Isthmus of Panama 
the great western ocean. They did not know that the 
unexplored land broadened into great continents to the 
north and south. 

As years passed, people became more and more anx- 
ious to find a short passage to India. The Turks con- 
trolled and blocked the overland passage to Asia. The 
ocean route by way of Africa was long and roundabout ; 
for the Dutch this had also the disadvantage of making 
it necessary for their ships to pass and repass their 
enemy Spain and their trade-rival Portugal. The 
Dutch had, by long and desperate fighting, freed them- 
selves from Spanish control and they had become the 
great sea-traders of the world. 

In the beginning of the seventeenth century they had 
about three thousand vessels on the seas — more than 
all the rest of Europe combined. Most of these were 



81 

under control of the Dutch East India Company, the 
largest and richest trading association in the world. 
They traveled the long ocean route south of Africa 
and brought back tea, coifee, spices, silks, and dye-woods 
from Asia, If only they could find a direct way to 
Asia how their profits would be increased ! Early in 
the seventeenth century they heard of a sailor in Eng- 
land who had been to seek this direct route and they 
engaged him to make a voyage for them. This sailor 
was Henry Hudson. 

When and where he was born and what were the 
events of his early life, we do not know. He was an. 
Englishman by birth, a brave, energetic man by na- 
ture, a navigator by profession. We first hear of him 
in 1607, four days before he started on a voyage for 
some London merchants, to seek a northeast passage to 
India. He had a small vessel with only ten men, be- 
sides himself and his little son John who accompanied 
him on all his voyages. Hudson left London in April, 
1607. He sailed along the coast of Greenland and was 
at last turned back by the ice barrier between Green- 
land and Spitzbergen. He made two interesting ob- 
servations in these unknown seas — first, the changing 
color of the sea near Spitzbergen, — green, blue, dark, 
transparent, — second, the great number of whales 
which aftenvards were the source of a profitable in- 
dustry. Unable to carry out his purpose, he returned 
to England after an absence of four and a half months. 



82 

In April of the next year, 1608, the London mer- 
chants sent him out again to seek the northeast passage. 
He reached Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla and vainly 
endeavored to find a passage through the ice ; in August 
he returned from his unsuccessful voyage. The London 
merchants now gave up the scheme — at least for the 
time. 

But the Dutch heard of Hudson and asked him to 
make a voyage for them. He agreed to undertake for 
the Dutch East India Company a third voyage in search 
of a northeast passage to India. He set out in April, 
1609, with two vessels, the Half Moon and the Good 
Hope, and a crew of about twenty men, some Dutch, 
some English. As before he sailed to the northeast, 
and as before his passage was blocked by ice. The Good 
Hope returned to Amsterdam, it is supposed, after a 
mutiny near Nova Zembla. 

But Hudson and the Half Moon did not return. 
Having for the third time failed to find the northeast 
passage he sought, he resolved to look for one to the 
northwest. This was probably suggested to him by a 
letter and maps which his friend Captain John Smith 
had sent him. Smith expressed the opinion that north 
of the English colony, Virginia, there was a sea which 
led into the Western Ocean, Sailing past Greenland, 
Newfoundland, and Cape Cod, Hudson reached the 
coast of Virginia, and entered the Delaware Hiver. 

Turning northward he kept near the shore till he 



83 

observed an opening in the land, 'New York Bay, which 
he entered. This bay had been entered before. Ver- 
razano, an Italian sailor in command of a French ship, 
had sailed in and out of it. French vessels had after- 
guards traded there, but had made no settlements. 

Into this bay emptied a river which Hudson thought 
might connect the eastern and the western ocean ; 
up this river he sailed about a hundred and fifty miles, 
as far as the present site of Albany; then he turned 
back, being convinced that the stream did not afford 
the passage he sought. He spent a month exploring 
this river, to which his name was given. The land was 
" pleasant with gTass and flowers and goodly trees." 
It was, he said, " good ground for corn and other gar- 
den herbs, with great store of goodly oaks." The na- 
tives, he said, were a " sensible and warlike people." 
He carried on trade with the Indians who brought to- 
bacco, maize, beans, grapes, pumpkins, and skins, to 
exchange for knives, beads, and trinkets. There arose 
disputes and in a fight one white man and several In- 
dians were killed. 

On Hudson's way back to Holland, he stopped in 
England to leave some English sailors ; there he was 
detained, being ordered by the English government to 
" stay and serve his own country." His charts and 
records were delivered to the Dutch who laid claim to 
the country he had found, calling the Delaware the 
'' South Kiver," and the Hudson the " Great Xortli 



84 

Eiver," and the country between " ]^ew Netherlands.'* 
In April, 1610, Hudson sailed on his fourth and 
last voyage, to seek for English merchants the north- 
west passage. His little vessel the Discovery entered 
the strait and bay which bear his name, and he spent 
three months exploring the coast. In November the 
vessel was frozen in and the crew spent the winter on 
the northern sea, suffering from scarcity of food as 
well as from the severe climate. When summer came, 
Hudson wished to continue his search. He believed 
that men should, to use his own Avords, resolve " To 
achieve what they have undertaken, or else to give rea- 
son wherefore it will not be." 

His crew wished to return home and mutinied against 
him. One midsummer day, they seized him, his son, 
and seven loyal seamen, and set them adrift in a boat. 
The little craft floated off on the summer sea and 
nothing more was ever heard of it or of a soul on 
board. An old Dutch legend says that Hudson and 
his men came safe to shore and made their home in the 
fair land he had discovered. Years later, when thunder 
rumbled in the heights along the Hudson Eiver, the 
old Dutch folks Avould shake their heads and say, " Hen- 
drik Hudson and his crew are playing ninepins." 

Peter Minuit 

A Dutch West India Company was organized on the 
same plan as the rich and powerful Dutch East bulla 



85 

Company. The western company was to trade on the 
coast of Africa and of America from Newfoundland 
to Magellan. For convenience in this trade, forts and 
posts were established where agents were stationed to 
carry on trade and collect furs. A fort and trading- 
post was established on Manhattan Island. There was 
gradually built up a village; this became a town and 
finally grew to be a city. At first it was called jSTew 
Amsterdam ; now it is the wealthy and populous city 
of E"ew York. 

The first directors who were sent to 'New Amsterdam 
by the Dutch Company lacked either ability or char- 
acter to govern the settlement well. At last, however, 
the Company found the right man for the place. This 
was Peter Minuit. He was not a Dutchman. He was 
French by descent and German by birth; his early 
manhood had been spent in Germany. 

He was appointed director of the council of N"ew 
Amsterdam and came to Manhattan in May, 1626. 
His ship brought seeds, plants, and tools, for he realized 
that on agriculture as well as on commerce depended 
the success of the colony. He wished to establish it on 
a foundation of justice. His first act was to summon 
the Indian chiefs of the neighborhood and to buy from 
them the island of Manhattan. Gay-colored cloth, 
beads, knives, and hatchets were displayed, and for 
goods to the value of twenty-four dollars the Dutch 
bought the island of Manhattan and bought also the 



'8'6' 

good will of the Iroquois. Thus the settlement was 
spared, for the most part, the horrors of Indian warfare 
which wasted most of the other colonies. Before Penn 
came to America, the Dutch leader, Minuit, treated the 
Indians in fair and humane fashion. We are not to 
think that the Indians were defrauded by the small sum 
paid for Manhattan. To them it was a mere hands- 
breadth of their vast possessions, a place to hunt deer 
and turkey and build wigwams and till cornfields. 

Minuit tried to establish friendly relations with the 
English colonies north of him and sent courteous let- 
ters and presents of sugar and Dutch cheese to Governor 
Bradford of Plymouth. 

Minuit looked after the welfare of the colony and 
also after the interests of the Company. A flourishing 
fur trade was carried on with the Indians; a large 
vessel was built and sent to Holland loaded with furs — 
beaver, otter, mink, and bear — and with oak and 
hickory timber. Purs were the money of this settle- 
ment, as tobacco was of Virginia, and they were used 
in the payment of salaries and debts. The Indian 
money, wampum, was also used in the commerce of 
the colonies, six pieces of wampum being equal to one 
stiver, a small Dutch coin worth about two cents. Bou- 
weries, or farms, occupied the meadows along East 
River; grain was grown, and sheep, cattle, and hogs 
were raised. The thrifty Dutch people lived in com- 
fort and plenty. 



87 

The colony prospered under Miniiit's management, 
but his rule came to an end on account of trouble with 
the " patroons." These patroons were large land-own- 
ers along the Hudson. In order to get the colony set- 
tled, the Dutch Company granted land fronting sixteen 
miles on the river and extending back to the Atlantic 
or to the Pacific to persons who would establish settle- 
ments of at least fifty persons within four years. 
These patroons had almost absolute power over the set- 
tlers on their land; the only restrictions on their privi- 
leges and trade were that they were forbidden to make 
cloth, in order to protect Dutch manufacturers, or to 
trade in furs, which was the especial privilege of the 
Company. 

The patroons, however, encroached on the Company's 
fur trade, and Peter Minuit excited their enmity by 
endeavoring to protect the rights of the Company which 
he represented. On the other hand, the Company 
thought that he did not check and control the patroons 
as he should. Between the two he was recalled. He 
returned to Holland in the spring of 1632, having 
really established the colony of New Amsterdam which 
he governed for six years. 

Failing to get his wrongs redressed by the Dutch 
West India Company, Minuit offered his services to 
Sweden to establish a colony in the New World. This 
plan had already been suggested by William Usselinx, 
a Dutcli merchant who had projected the Dutcli West 



88 

India Company in 1621. Minuit carried out the plan. 
He and his friends in Holland bore half the expense 
of fitting out an expedition to found a Swedish-Dutch 
Company. 

Owing to Minuit's illness, the vessels did not sail 
till late in 1637. Thej reached the shores of the Dela- 
ware in March, 1638, and took possession of the west 
bank of the river. Minuit had little regard for the 
claims of territory made by nations whose wandering 
ships had touched the coast and sailed away again. In 
his opinion the land belonged to those wdio purchased 
it from the Indian inhabitants and settled there and 
cultivated the soil. As at Manhattan, he met the In- 
dian chiefs and formed a treaty never broken by either 
party. The Indians of Delaware, like those farther 
north, belonged to the great Iroquois Confederacy or 
Five ]S[ations. 

Minuit took possession of the country in the name 
of the young queen of Sweden and built a fort called 
Christina in her honor. He cultivated friendly rela- 
tions with the English at Jamestown and with the Dutch 
trading-posts on the east bank of the Delaware. A 
thriving fur trade was established with the friendly 
Indians and soon the Dutch West India Company com- 
plained that their trade was greatly injured by Minuit's 
colony. The governor of New Netherlands wrote a 
letter of protest against the Swedes occupying this land^ 




PETER STUYVESANT 



89 

but during the three years that Minuit remained in 
charge the Dutch confined their protests to words. 

After doing his utmost to establish the colony in 
peace, strength, and safety, Minuit left it on a trad- 
ing expedition. He sailed to the West Indies to barter 
for tobacco to carry back to Old Sweden. While he 
was guest on a Dutch vessel in the harbor a violent 
hurricane came up, the ship was driven to sea and was 
never heard of more. Thus perished the first governor 
of ]^ew Sweden, the real founder of New Amsterdam. 

Peter Stuyvesant 

The Last Dutch Governor of New York 

Van Twiller succeeded Minuit as governor of the 
New Netherlands. He proved incompetent and Avas re- 
placed by Kieft, who by cruelty and injustice provoked 
the Indians to war. Kieft so mismanaged affairs that 
in three years the population of the New Netherlands 
was reduced from three thousand to one thousand. 

In 1647 Peter Stuyvesant was appointed governor. 
He was the son of a Dutch clergyman, but, being fond 
of fighting and adventure, he had chosen war as his 
profession. He took part in several of the battles by 
which the Dutch gained mastery over the Spaniards at 
sea. At one time he undertook to conquer the Spanish 
island of St. Martin and lost a leg in the fis-ht. He was 



90 

called " 01(1 Silver Leg," because his lost limb had been 
replaced by a wooden stump, ornamented with bands 
of silver. He was also called " Headstrong Peter," a 
title which he well deserved. 

The Dutch West India Company thought that this 
brave, fearless soldier would be the very man to con- 
trol their troublesome colony on the Hudson. So he was 
appointed and came to the colony in May, 1647, with 
a fleet of four vessels. He told the people, " I shall be 
in my government as a father over his children " — a 
very severe and stern parent he proved. 

A strong man was needed to save the colony from 
ruin. Enemies threatened it on all sides. 

In the first place, there were the Indians whom Ivieft 
had provoked to war. Stuyvesant stopped the sale of 
intoxicating liquors to them; while stern, he was so 
just and honest and fearless that he won their respect 
and they made and kept peace with him. 

In the second place, the encroachments of the ISTew 
Englanders were a constant source of annoyance. The 
Dutch claimed all the land between the Connecticut 
and Hudson Elvers by right of Hudson's discoveries, 
and valued it as a field for fur trade. " The land is 
too good to stand idle," said the English, and occupied 
it with their farms and villages. The Dutch protested 
and asserted their claims, but in vain. The English 
farmers conlimuMl to occupy the land, and more and 
more came in conflict with the Dutch, 



9T 

Stuyvesant decided that a fixed line — even one 
which yielded some territory claimed by the Dutch — 
was better than an nnfixed one constantly advanced by 
the English. In 1650, therefore, he made an agree- 
ment, surrendering the land already held by the Eng- 
lish — which the Dutch could not have regained — and 
establishing a fixed line beyond which the English 
agreed not to advance. Stuyvesant acted wisely in the 
matter, but the West India Company was dissatisfied, 
thinking that he ought not to have surrendered the 
Dutch claims. 

In 1652 New Amsterdam was granted a charter as a 
city. It had then about three hundred houses and 
fifteen hundred inhabitants. The city was to have a 
council, but, instead of allowing the people to elect the 
members, Stuyvesant appointed them and he presided at 
all meetings of importance. The sturdy Dutchman was 
resolved that his will should be the law of the colony. 
The people assembled in convention and asked, among 
other things, that they might appoint local officers. 
Stuyvesant ordered them to disperse, informing them 
" his authority was from the West India Com]3any and 
from God and not from ignorant subjects." 

In the course of time there arose trouble between the 
Dutch colonists and the Swedes who had settled along 
the Delaware on land claimicd by the Dutch. Finally, 
a Swedish captain took possession of a Dutch fort. 
Stuyvesant, with a force of six or seven hundred men 



92 

and seventeen ships, set forth to uphold his country's 
rights. He went to the Delaware, or South River, re- 
took the forts, and compelled the Swedes to swear al- 
legiance to the Netherlands. A Dutch garrison was 
put in charge of the fort and thus ended Swedish rule 
on the Delaware. 

While absent on this expedition, Stuyvesant received 
evil tidings from Manhattan. An Indian woman had 
been killed by a Dutchman for stealing peaches from 
his garden. To revenge this injury, the Indians dur- 
ing the absence of the fighting men on the Delaware 
attacked and burned the settlement, killed some of the 
hated whites, and carried off others as prisoners. 
Stuyvesant made ready to march against the Indians, 
but did not do so as they requested tenns of peace and re- 
turned their prisoners. Later, the Indians made an- 
other attack and Stuyvesant promptly punished them 
by force of arms. 

Under the just, firm rule of the despotic, high-tem- 
pered governor, the colony of 'New Netherlands flour- 
ished. Farms were cleared and tended, villages were 
formed, trade flourished, and immigration increased. 
But the end of Dutch rule on the Hudson was at hand. 
.In 1664 Charles II., king of England, granted to his 
brother James, Duke of York, the entire territory 
claimed and occupied by the Dutch, which he asserted 
belonged to England. England and Holland were then 
at peace, but the Duke of York did not hesitate to bring 



93 

on war. He fitted out four war-ships with four hun- 
dred and fifty soldiers and sent them to America under 
command of Colonel Nicolls. The Dutch were in- 
formed that the vessels were going to the colonies in 
ISTew England. Instead, they sailed to New Amster- 
dam. Stuyvesant had neither powder nor provisions 
for a siege, and his soldiers wished to accept English 
terms. Nicolls informed the council that none of the 
people's rights would be interfered with — only the flag 
and the governor would be changed. Brave sturdy old 
Stuyvesant tore up the letter offering these terms and 
wished to fight for the rights of the Company he repre- 
sented. But the council, soldiers, and citizens would 
not support him, and he had to yield. 

" I had rather be carried to my grave," he said, as he 
ordered the surrender. 

He went to Holland to prove that he had done his 
best to uphold the Company's rights. Having done 
this, he returned to his home in the New World. He 
led a quiet, comfortable life in his fine old country 
home — in what is now the business heart of New 
York City, — and in the course of time, he and GovemoT 
Nicolls became great friends. 

The Dutch resented the English seizure of their 
colony and declared war against England. When peace 
was made, it was agreed that each nation should keep 
what it had won. Holland had won the most victories 
and so gained most territory by this agreement; but the 



94 

city of New Amsterdam and the colony of New Nether- 
lands — both of which were called New York in honor 
of their new ruler — remained in English hands. The 
Dutch inhabitants were secured in their rights and 
privileges, according to Colonel Nicoll's promise, and 
they went on their sober, hard-working way. From 
them the English, in time, borrowed many Dutch cus- 
toms and festivals, — such as that of having Easter eggs 
and of celebrating Christmas with the visit of St. 
Nicholas or Santa Claus. 

Samuel de Champlain 

The Father of New France 

For years the Portuguese and the Spanish shared be- 
tween them the trading-posts and commerce of the 
world. Portugal controlled the ocean route to Asia, 
and Spain by virtue of her early discoveries and ex- 
plorations laid claim to the whole of the New World. 
But as time passed this state of affairs was changed. 
In the Old World, the Dutch became the successful 
rivals of the Portuguese ; in the New, Spain had to 
contend with France, England, Holland, and Sweden, 
all of which were seeking a share of the prize. 

For a long time France was the chief rival with which 
Spain had to reckon. Verrazano, a Florentine sailor, 
was sent from France in command of four vessels to 
seek the longed-for westward route to Cathay. Left at 



95 

last with one ship, he reached in 1524 the coast of ISTorth 
Carolina, "a new land never before seen of any man, 
ancient or modern," — for in the opinion of the Eu- 
ropeans the natives counted not at all. Verrazano 
sailed along the coast, into the Bay of 'New York and 
out again, and along the coast of New England to JSTew- 
foundland. Provisions giving out, he returned to 
France and gave the first description of the coast of 
the United States. 

In the wake of Verrazano, followed other Erenchmen. 
One of these was Jacques Cartier. In 1534 he came to 
the coast of Xewfoundland and sailed up the St. Law- 
rence River, hoping to find through it an outlet to 
Cathay. On a second voyage, he entered and named 
the Bay of St. Lawrence and ascended the great river 
as far as Montreal. A third voyage he made in 1541, 
for the purpose of establishing a colony. But a severe 
winter and much sickness and suffering discouraged the 
colonists, and the next year they left Kew Erance for 
Old. 

Years passed. Civil and religious wars laid Erance 
waste, and many earnest men began to look to the ISTew 
World for an asylum from the Old. A band of French 
Protestants led by John Ribaut left their native shores 
to make their home in America. Instead of sailing 
northward, they landed in 1562 on the shores of Flor- 
ida, which was the territory of Catholic Spain. The 
colony was attacked by the Spaniards under Menendez, 



96 

and men, women, and children were* killed. This ter- 
rible slaughter was avenged by the French under De 
Gourges, but the tide of French colonization was turned 
from the southern coast. 

Five years after this massacre, there Avas born Samuel 
de Champlain, who won the title of the " Father of New 
France." His father was a French ship captain ; he 
himself was trained in the art of navigation and be- 
came a captain in the royal navy. " Navigation is 
the art which has powerfully attracted me ever since 
my boyhood and has led me to expose myself almost all 
my life to the impetuous buffetings of the sea," he 
said. 

Chaplain served awhile in the army; when peace 
came his adventurous spirit led him to the West In- 
dies. This was Spanish territory and the Frenchman 
went thither at the risk of his life. He spent two years 
in America. To him it seemed, as it had seemed to 
some Spanish and Portuguese officials, that it would 
be a good plan to cut a canal through the Isthmus of 
Panama. Champlain wrote, " If the four leagues of 
land which there are from Panama to the (Chagres) 
river were cut through^ one might pass from the south 
sea to the ocean on the other side and thus shorten the 
route by more than fifteen hundred leagues ; and from 
Panama to the Strait of Magellan would be an island 
and from Panama to the New-found lands would be an- 



97 

other island, so that the whole of America would be in 
two islands." 

Always on his voyages Champlain kept a diary and 
made maps of the lands lie visited. When he returned 
to France, he gave the king a minute account of the 
colonies and treasure of Spain. It was shame to 
France, he thought, that on the ISTew World, discovered 
more than a century before, only their enemies had a 
foothold. 

A French nobleman who was planning to found a 
colony in America decided that this enterprising young 
sailor-soldier would be the man to lead the undertaking. 
Champlain entered into the plan with enthusiasm. In 
1603 he set out to reconnoiter the new land, following 
the route of Cartier. He sailed up the St. Lawrence 
River, to the present site of Montreal. During the 
next four years he made five voyages to the New World, 
exploring the coast from New England northward. He 
led a band of colonists who after a winter of hardship 
and sickness returned in 1607 to France. But Cham- 
plain was not discouraged. He was resolved to extend 
the power of France and of the Catholic religion in the 
new land, to penetrate the unknown wilds, and to seek 
a route to the East. H© was appointed Lieutenant- 
governor of the French colony, an office which he held 
until his death, and came to America in 1608 to estab- 
lish a settlement on the St. Lawrence River. In July 

G 



98 

tlie colonists landed and erected a store-bouse, tlie be- 
ginning of tbe city of Quebec. 

Five discontented men in tbe party formed a plot to 
kill Cbamplain and turn tbe fortress ever to tbe Span- 
iards. One of tbe m,en, however, betrayed tbe plot ; 
tbe conspirators were arrested, tbe ringleader was 
hanged, and tbe others were sent prisoners to France. 
The winter of 1609 found the French colony one of 
three in the Xew World. At Jamestown, in Virginia, 
were the English ; at St. Augustine, in Florida, were 
the Spaniards; and far to the north at Quebec in 
Canada, were the French. ISTo one could then guess 
which nation would finally become supreme, though the 
chances seemed in favor of tbe Spaniards. 

Tbe first winter at Quebec was one of hardship and 
sickness, and when spring opened only eight of tbe 
twenty-eight Frenchmen were alive. In 1609 Cbam- 
plain, ever ready for adventure, accompanied some Al- 
gonquins and other Indians on an expedition against 
their enemies the Iroquois, tbe Five Nations, He 
wished to see " a large lake, filled with beautiful is- 
lands, and with a fine country surrounding it " of 
wdiicb he bad been told. He reached tbe beautiful 
lake, Avliich now bears bis name; on its banks his fire- 
arms turned tbe battle against the Iroquois and be- 
gun the long warfare in which the French were opposed 
to this great confederation of tribes. Tbe very day 
that Cbamplain brought on bis nation the enmity of 



99 

this deadly foe, a little Dutch vessel, the Half Moon, 
was anchored on the New England coast. A few weeks 
later it entered the Hudson River, — bearing a crew 
of English and Dutch — the two peoples who were to 
be allies of the foe which the Frenchmen made that 
day and to turn the tide of battle against France. 

From 1609 till his death, the time of Champlain 
was divided between ISTew and Old France. Explor- 
ing, fighting, establishing trading-posts, he was busy 
building u]3 the young colony and developing its re- 
sources. In 1620 his young wife, whom he had mar- 
ried ten years before when she was a mere child, came 
for the first time to Quebec. After four years of hard- 
ship, she returned to France and did not again revisit 
the N'ew World. 

The French colony grew and prospered. It was on 
friendly terms with its Indian neighbors with whom 
it carried on a flourishing fur trade. Furs were the 
currency and wealth of the French colony, as of the 
Dutch colony on Manhattan. The French exported 
every year to France from fifteen to twenty thousand 
skins; the Dutch at Manhattan thought business good 
when they shipped four thousand. 

In 1628 the French colony was reduced to sore 
straits from scarcity of food. This was increased by 
the English capture of the ships bringing supplies. 
Winter passed and with spring the suffering increased. 
" We ate our peas by count," says Champlain. His 



100 

heart was wrung by the sufferings of the people, es- 
pecially of the women and children. " Nevertheless," 
he says, " I was patient, having always good courage, 
— and can say with truth that I aided every one to 
the utmost that was in my power." In this extremity 
in 1629 Quebec was attacked by English warships and 
was forced to surrender. 

Champlain was detained awhile as prisoner in Eng- 
land. Afterwards New France was by treaty restored 
to France and Champlain returned to Quebec Avhere 
he died Christmas Day, 1635. " Of the pioneers of 
the North American forests his name stands foremost 
on the lists," says Parkman. 

Robert de la Salle 

The Explorer of the Mississippi Eiver 

The Spanish adventurer, De Soto, in his march 
westward in 1641, was the first white man who reached 
the Mississippi River. Year after year passed and 
the Spaniards did not occupy the land along its shores. 
Instead, they settled the islands and shores to the south 
and sought silver and gold in Mexico and Peru. While 
the Spaniards were occupying southern regions, the 
French were taking possession of northern lands, pene- 
trating inland along the St. Lawrence River. 

The French traders and missionaries who went west- 
ward heard stories of a mighty river not far distant, 



101 

wliich flowed to the sea. In the spring of 1673 two 
Frenchmen set out in birch canoes to find and explore 
this river, hoping thus to reach the Pacific Ocean. 
These Frenchmen were Louis Joliet, an explorer in 
search of the passage to the Pacific, and Father Mar- 
quette, a priest familiar with Indian dialects, who 
wished to reach the savages of the wilderness. Joliet 
and Marquette went up the St. Lawrence and through 
the Great Lakes. They were guided by two Indian boys 
to the Wisconsin River down which they floated in their 
canoes. After several days the explorers landed at a 
settlement of the friendly Indian tribe, the Illinois. 
The peace pipe was smoked and a banquet was served 
of Indian meal made into mush, boiled fish, baked dog, 
and buffalo meat. Again embarking, the adventurers 
sailed on till they reached the place where the Missouri 
empties into the Mississippi. 

The Indian guides informed them that they could 
ascend the river and going westward reach a prairie 
across which their canoes could be carried; then they 
could embark on a river which flowed southwest into 
a lake; from this issued a river which flowed into the 
western sea. The Frenchmen did not follow the 
course thus pointed out and it was many years before 
the truth of the statement was verified. But if you 
look on a map you see the Missouri can be ascended 
to the Platte River, the source of which is near the 
Colorado River which flows into the Gulf of California. 



102 

The Frenchmen sailed down the Mississippi as far 
as the month of the Arkansas River. They were con- 
vinced that the stream entered the Gulf of Mexico 
and they did not care to encounter the hostile Span- 
iards or the warlike Indian tribes which they were told 
dwelt on the banks of the lower Mississippi. So they 
turned back, goiiig i^P tlie Illinois River and passing 
the marshy prairie which is now the site of the gi'eat 
city of Chicago. After a journey of more than twenty- 
five hundred miles, they reached in September the mis- 
sion at Green Bay. 

Robert de la Salle, a gentleman of Normandy, was 
in Canada when Marquette and Joliet returned from 
their voyage. He was much interested in their dis- 
coveries and he determined to go from the St. Law- 
rence to the mouth of the Mississippi. He wished to 
take possession of the land in the name of the king of 
France to whom it was considered that the whole valley 
of the great river belonged by virtue of the discoveries 
of Marquette and Joliet ; he wished also to establish 
military and trading posts along the lakes and the river ; 
he hoped that he would find a passage to the Pacific 
Ocean. The king gave his consent and aid to the plan. 

La Salle established a fort on Lake Ontario. IvTot 
far from Niagara Falls, he built a vessel wliieh he called 
the Griffin. This sailed through Lakes Erie and Huron 
and Michigan and then was sent back richly laden with 
furs. Unfortunately, it was wrecked on the return 



103 

voyage with all on board. In the winter of 1680, La 
Salle returned to the fort on Lake Ontario to get sup- 
plies. In Angust, 1680, La Salle's party, consisting of 
twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty-one Indians, set out 
in birch canoes to explore the Mississippi. Delayed 
by storms and tempests and Indian wars, the voyagers 
did not reach the mouth of the Chicago River imtil 
January, 1682. The canoes were dragged on sledges 
down the frozen Chicago River. When they reached the 
Mississippi, they were detained by the masses of ice 
on its waters. 

As soon as possible the Frenchmen embarked and 
sailed down the river, stopping to get corn and infor- 
mation from Indian tribes on their way and to give 
religious instruction. They slept in the wigwams of 
the savages and won their hearts by just and kind treat- 
ment. 

They sailed down the mighty river till they came in 
sight of the open sea. On the ninth of April, 1682, 
La Salle in the name of King Louis of France took 
possession of the land which he called Louisiana. The 
French flag was raised over the valley of the Mississippi 
— a territory three times as large as France. The 
return voyage was made in safety, though it was de- 
layed by hostile Indians, want of food and the illness 
of La Salle. He did not reach Quebec till the autumn 
of 1683. 

He sailed for France that winter to organize a colony 



104 

for settling the southern country discovered by him. 
The king entered eagerly into the plan and La Salle 
was sent with four vessels bearing men and supplies to 
establish a colony. Ignorant of the coast, the captain 
went too far west and reached Matagorda Bay in Texas 
early in the spring of 1685. La Salle wished to seek 
the mouth of the river, but the captain, impatient to 
return, landed the stores and sailed away. La Salle 
made the best of matters and finding the climate pleas- 
ant and the Indians friendly, he established a colony 
there. 

Month after month passed, and no supplies were re- 
ceived from France. Therefore he set out, January, 
1687, with twenty men to find the Mississippi Eiver 
and make his way to Canada. There he hoped to get 
supplies and send letters to France requesting aid for 
the colony. On the journey some men rebelled against 
his authority, killed his nephew and a faithful Indian, 
and later shot La Salle himself. " Thus died our wise 
commander, constant in adversity, intrepid, generous, 
engaging, dexterous, skillful, capable of everything. 
. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of 
his enterprises, w'ithout having seen their success." He 
had laid the foundation of French power in the Missis- 
sippi valley, and had established it upon a basis of 
friendship with the natives, which made possible its 
growth in peace and security. 



105 



Lords Baltimore of Baltimore 

An interesting figure in the Stuart conrt was that 
of the first Lord Baltimore, the Catholic nobleman 
through whese interest and influence the colony of 
Maryland was established. George Calvert — he was 
not yet Lord Baltimore — entered public life as the 
secretary of Sir Eobert Cecil; he won the favor of 
King James L and in 1619 he was knighted and made 
secretary of state. So far from seeking office, we are 
informed that " he disabled himself various ways, but 
specially that he thought himself unworthy to sit in 
that place so lately possessed by his noble lord and 
master." 

A few years later he openly connected himself with 
the Catholics and resigned his office. He did not, how- 
ever, lose favor with the Protestant king who granted 
him the title of Baron Baltimore of Baltimore, and 
confirmed his claim to large estates in Ireland. But 
George Calvert's interest lay in another direction and 
the remainder of his life was given to " that ancient, 
primitive, and heroic work of planting the world." 

As early as 1609 he had been a member of the 
Virginia Company and his position as secretary of 
state made him intimately acquainted with the course 
of exploration and colonization in the Xew World. At 
that time Catholics in England Avere not allowed liberty 
of worship. Calvert desired to establish a colony where 



lOG 

men, especially those of his own faith, might enjoy 
the free exercise of their religion. In 1620 he pur- 
chased a plantation in NcAvfonndland and the next 
year he sent colonists -with tools and supplies to found 
a settlement, which he named Avalon. '' Westward 
Hoe for Avalon," by Captain Whitbourne, published 
the next year, described in glowing terms the country 
with its good fisheries, abundant berries, cherries, and 
pears, and " red and white damask roses." In 1623 
the king granted a charter giving Lord Baltimore prac- 
tically royal authority over the province. As a sign 
of sovereign power, the king of England was to re- 
ceive a white horse whenever he visited Avalon. 

In 1627 Lord Baltimore for the first time crossed 
the ocean to the province so eloquently described by 
Whitbourne. He found — a stormy sea beating 
against a rough peninsula which was broken by stretches 
of barren sand, tracts of marshes, hills clothed with 
stunted, cone-bearing trees, and narrow spaces of arable 
land. Desolate as it was, Lord Baltimore saw Avalon 
at its best, for it was summer. 

In a few weeks he went back to England and the 
next year he returned to Avalon with his wife and all 
his family except his eldest son Cecilius or Cecil. 
The hardships of the long, severe winter and the con- 
tests with the French convinced Lord Baltimore that 
the northern province was no place for his colony — the 
twenty thousand pounds he liad spent on it were wasted, 



107 

ITc wroto to the king, complaining that " from the 
middle of October to the middle of May there is a 
sad fare of winter upon all tiiis land," and requesting 
a grant of land in a more genial climate, to which he 
might remove his colony of forty-six persons. At first 
he endeavored to oLtain territory south of Virginia, 
but this was opposed by the Virginia Company which 
clai)ned the land and said it w^as about to send colonists 
thither. Finally it was decided that it would be well 
to establish an English colony north of Virginia to keep 
back the Dutch and the French who were settling ter- 
ritory claimed by England. Lord Baltimore received, 
a grant of land on Chesapeake Bay, extending to the 
Potomac. But this land he was never to settle or even 
to see. Tie died in April, 1632. The grant thus de- 
volved on his son Cecil, a young man of twenty-eight, 
who carried out the plans so dear to his father. 

Cecil, who was the real founder of Maryland, never 
visited the colony; he sent out settlers and supplies 
under his younger brother, Leonard. Leonard was the 
first governor of Maryland, as the land was called in 
honor of the English queen, Henrietta Maria. The 
charter given Lord Baltimore granted more absolute 
power than was ever bestowed on any other English 
colonist in the Xew World. " Cecilius, Absolute Lord 
of ^Maryland and Avalon," could make peace or war; 
he had the law-making power also and the people could 
merelv advise and assent or dissent. The onlv tribute 



108 

required was tlie yearly payment of two Indian arrows 
to the king and of one-fifth of all the gold and silver 
found in the land. As soon as the settlers landed, 
Leonard Calvert established friendly relations with the 
Indians whom the Englishmen found to " have gener- 
ous natures and requite any kindness shown them." 
The peaceful relations with these Indians, called 
" Friend Indians " in later treaties, were never broken. 

Sailing up St. Mary's Eiver, the colonists found a 
place w^hich pleased them as a site for a settlement. 
They purchased it from the Indians for " axes, hoes, 
and cloth." Here St. Mary's was built in 1634, on 
the former site of an Indian village. 

From the first the policy of the Maryland colony was 
" peace, unity, and religious toleration." Until it was 
established, there was no place in the English colonies 
in America where Catholics had religious libertv. In 
the colony on the Potomac, the Catholics enjoyed the 
free exercise of their religion and granted to others 
the same privilege. This religious toleration was se- 
cured by law in 1649. It was agreed that " no persons 
professing to believe in Jesus Christ should be molested 
in their religion." 

The chief trouble of the Maryland colony in its early 
days was with William Claybourne, a trader from 
Virginia who had established a settlement and trading- 
post on Kent's Island. Tliis was a part of tho territory 
afterwards granted to Lord Baltimore. After much 




WILLIAM PENN 



109 

contention and dissension about the matter, in 1646 
Claybourne stirred up a rebellion. Governor Calvert, 
armed with royal authority, took forcible possession of 
the island. A few mouths later Calvert died, having 
appointed as his successor, Thomas Greene, a Catholic 
and Royalist. 

This " land of the sanctuary," as Maryland was 
called, grew in wealth and prosperity. In 1656 Ham- 
mond described it for the benefit of home-staying Eng- 
lishmen : " Maryland is (not an Island as is reported, 
but) i^art of that main adjoining to Virginia only sep- 
arated or parted from Virginia, by a river of ten miles 
broad, called Patomack River, — the commodities and 
manner of living as in Virginia, the soil somewhat more 
temperate (as being more northerly) many stately and 
navigable rivers are contained in it, plentifully stored 
with wholesome springs, rich and pleasant soil, and 
so that its extraordinary goodness hath made it rather 
desired then envied." 

William Penn 
A Famous Quaker 

About the middle of the seventeenth century a good 
deal of attention was attracted in England to the re- 
ligious sect called Quakers, Professors, Friends, or 
Children of the Light. One of their ablest exponents 
was George Fox. He was grave and temperate in life, 



110 

but so firm that it was said of him, " If George says 
verily there is no altering him." " Verily " was the 
strongest word of assent he permitted himself, obey- 
ing literally the Bible command, " Swear not at all." 
The Quakers thought that the Bible only ought to 
be the rule for men and churches, that there should 
be no set forms of worship, and that men should pray 
and preach, not at appointed times, but only as moved 
by the Spirit. They believed that every man is led by 
the " inward light," or the Spirit of God, saying, " He 
that gave us an outward luminary for our bodies, hath 
given us an inward one for our minds to act by." 
The Quakers refused to pay tithes and taxes to support 
the established church and, thinking it wrong to fight, 
they refused to serve in the army. At that time hats 
were worn indoors as well as out, and men took them 
off as a token of respect. The Quaker refused to 
pull off their hats to men of any rank, uncovering 
only in prayer. " Hat honor was invented by men in 
the Fall," they said. These Quakers were recognized 
by their sober attire, — broad-brimmed hats and sober- 
colored clothes, — and by their use of " thee " and 
" thou " and " thine " instead of " you " and " yours." 
To use the plural forms in addressing one person, they 
said, was contrary to grammar, to Biblical usage, and 
to truth. 

When George Fox, a lad of twenty, was preaching this 
faith, there was born in England one who was to spread 



Ill 

it abroad in the Xew World. This was William Penn. 
His fatlier, Sir William Penn, was an Admiral in the 
royal navj and was anxious to see his son master of 
an estate and a title. All these plans were upset by 
the son who at twenty-four joined the Quakers. His 
father snnnnoned him to London to argue with him, 
but the youth stood firm. He appeared covered before 
his father. The old Admiral tried to effect a com- 
promise and get him to take off his hat to his father, 
the king, and the Duke of York, but he refused. He 
would not yield one point of the Quaker customs, dress, 
language, or faith. As he would not yield, his father 
in the end did so, and paid his fines. 

The Quakers were so beset at home that Penn and 
others wished to establish for them a refuge in the 
Xew World. Penn became one of the owners of the 
colony of West ]^ew Jersey to which many Quakers 
went. But he was not satisfied with his partnership 
here and desired a province and colony of his own. 
This was not difficult to acquire. King Charles IT., 
who owed Admiral Penn's estate sixteen thousand 
pounds, had little gold or silver in his treasury and 
claimed much land in the New World. He willingly 
settled his debt bv 2;rantino: William Penn the land 
west of the Delaware ; for this Penn was to paj^ yearly 
two beaver skins, and one-fifth of all the gold and silver 
found in the colony. Penn wished to call this land 
of woods Sylvania, and the king added to the name that 



112 - . 

of his old friend, the Admiral, calling it Pennsylvania. 

The grant was made in 1680; two years later, in 
order to have an ontlet to the sea, Penn secured a 
grant of the land which afterwards formed the state 
of Delaware. The very year that this second grant 
was made, many Quakers sailed to make their home in 
the new land. In the fall and winter of 1682, twenty- 
three ships came, bringing settlers to the Quaker colony. 
The next year Penn conld say, " I have led the gi'eatest 
colony into America that ever any man did upon a 
private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that 
ever were in it are to be found among us." In three 
years there were more than seven thousand settlers, — 
English, French, Dutch, Swedes, men of different races 
and various creeds. 

Penn made it from the first a " free colony for all 
mankind," assuring the people " You shall be gov- 
erned by laws of your own making. I shall not usurp 
the right of any or oppress his person." He put the 
government in the hands of a governor and of a council 
and general assembly chosen by freemen. Laws were 
passed forbidding drunkenness, dueling, stage plays, 
and card playing. Death, which was then in England 
the penalty for theft and many other offences, in Penn- 
sylvania was inflicted only as punishment for wilful 
murder, according to the law of God^ as the Quakers 
understood it. 

Penn founded his colony on principles of peace and 



113 

fairness to the Indians. Under a great elm tree at 
Shakaniaxon, afterwards Kensington, he made with 
the natives, a treaty of peace and friendship " never 
sworn to and never broken ;" the red man was granted 
equal rights witli the white, and they w^ere .to be 
friends " while the creeks and rivers run and while 
the sun, moon, and stars endure." The Indians with 
whom the Pennsylvania colonists were brought in eon- 
tact were the mild and peace-loving Delawares. Fortu- 
nately for the Quakers, the fierce Susquehannocks, 
beaten by the Five ^Nations, had six years before gone 
southward. 

Penn laid out the site of a town at the confluence 
of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. He named it 
Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It was laid 
out with broad fair streets for he wished it to be a 
" fair and green country town." 

Two years later, Penn sailed back to England to 
decide a dispute about the boundary line between Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland. It w^as fifteen years before he 
revisited his colony. He endeavored to see it governed 
w^ell, but from a distance this was difficult. There 
were men hard to control, " For the love of God, me, 
and the poor country, be not so governmentish, so un- 
easy, and open in your dissatisfaction," he "\vrote. 

When Penn returned in 1699 it was with the plan 
of spending his remaining days in his colony. But 
two years later he leared that there was a plan afoot 
II 



114 

to turn his province into a crown territory and he sailed 
hack to England to protect his rights. One matter 
after another came np to detain him and he remained 
in England till his death in July, 1718. 

James Edward Oglethorpe 

The Founder of Georgia 

The colony of Georgia was the last founded of the 
thirteen original colonies. It was established by Ogle- 
thorpe, a man of noble birth who was animated by 
principles of philanthrophy and patriotism. 

James Edward Oglethorpe was born in London, about 
1688. When a youth he entered the army and fought 
bravely against the Turks for several years. After 
his return home his attention was attracted and his 
sympathy aroused by the condition of prisoners in 
England, especially of poor debtors. In those days debt 
was regarded and punished as a crime ; debtors were 
confined in prisons with murderers and thieves. It 
is thought that Oglethorpe's attention was specially 
dra^^'n to the matter by the sad case of one of his 
friends. This man, being unable to pay his debts, was 
imprisoned and loaded with chains; unable to pay even 
the fees required by the jailer, he was confined in a 
miserable prison where smallpox was raging, caught 
the disease, and died. 

Oglethorpe investigated the conditions of prison 




JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE 



115 

life in England and found tlieni l)ad and brutal beyond 
description. Most of the prisons were liltliy dens in 
which men, women, and children were herded together, 
the child who had stolen a loaf of bread side by side 
with a brutal murderer. Oglethorpe brought the sub- 
ject before parliament and succeeded in having a com- 
mittee appoi..ted to investigate the matter and take 
steps to limit the corruption and cruelty of the of- 
ficials. 

Besides attempting to relieve their condition at 
home, Oglethorf)e began to ^jlan an asylum abroad for 
the i30or debtors and for persecuted sects. He wished 
to establish a place where those who were unfortunate 
and discouraged could begin life anew. It seemed to 
Oglethorpe that England would derive many benefits 
from such a colony as he planned. The country would 
be relieved of the burden of supporting unfortunate 
men who there would become self-supporting. New 
industries might be developed, — especially the culture 
of silk worms in which he was much interested. He 
wished to plant this settlement in the southern regions 
claimed by England, making it a military colony to 
prevent the encroachments of Spain and to protect the 
other English colonies. 

In June, 1732, Oglethorpe and twenty associates ob- 
tained a grant of the land lying between the Savannah 
and Altamaha rivers and extending westward to the 
Pacific Ocean, according to the usual terms of the 



116 

grants of the times. The English claimed this land 
by virtue of the expeditions of Sir Walter Raleigh 
and they were desirous to occupy it before it was seized 
by the Spanish in Florida or the French on the Mis- 
sissippi. In honor of the reigning King George II., 
the territory was named Georgia. 

Oglethorpe agreed with Bacon that " it is a shame- 
ful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people and 
wicked condemned men to be the people whom you 
plant," and he tried to select men who were unfortunate 
rather than wicked. Every opportunity was to be 
given the people to reform and to build up homes and 
fortunes. Oglethorpe went as governor of the colony, 
hoping by his personal aid and supervision to en- 
courage and direct the people. 

For military reasons, Oglethorpe urged that negro 
slavery be prohibited and that rum should not be 
brought into the colony. Among the men who aided 
in establishing and directing the colony were John and 
Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield, the famous 
Methodist clergymen. 

In the winter of 1733, the colonists reached the ISTew 
World and selected for their settlement a place on the 
Savannah River, a few miles from the sea. The In- 
dians were conciliated with gifts and kindly treatment 
and assurances that their rights should be regarded. 
One of the desires of the philanthropic Oglethorpe was 



to civilize and christianize the natives. In six months 
there were one hnndred and fifty persons in the set- 
tlement. They were a turbulent people unaccustomed 
to labor and with habits of improvidence and idleness. 
Oglethorpe was kind but firm ; he allowed no idlers 
and provided tasks for even the children. Their neigh- 
bors in South Carolina were friendly and helpful, and 
the colony prospered. In the summer of 173J: Ogle- 
thorpe visited England, taking with him as guests sev- 
eral Indian chiefs. Early in February, 1736, he re- 
turned to Savannah. 

Clear-sighted man of affairs that he was, he realized 
that a contest with Spain must come sooner or later. 
He endeavored to put the country in a position of 
defense. When war was declared between England and 
Spain in 1739, Oglethorpe had already secured the al- 
liance of the Indian tribes. The Spaniards attacked 
an English settlement, and in retuni Oglethorpe cap- 
tured a Spanish outpost. With his Indian allies, he 
marched against St. Augustine, but it was too strongly 
defended to be taken by the forces at his command. 
Two years- later the Spaniards attacked Georgia; by a 
fortunate union of good chance and good generalship, 
they were defeated. " The pauper colony," as it had 
been called, not only defended itself but saved its 
neighbor, South Carolina. 

After this war was over, Oglethorpe returned to Eng- 



118 

land and never again revisited bis colony. Abont ten 
years biter, tbe trnstecs of the colony resigned their 
patent and Georgia became a royal province. 

Oglethorpe made his home in London where he was 
tbe friend of Walpole, Goldsmith, Johnson, and other 
famons men. lie died at a ripe old age, having lived 
to see tbe colony which he bad founded win its inde- 
pendence in tbe War of the Revolution. When John 
Adams came to England as minister from tbe United 
States, Oglethorpe called " to pay his respects to tbe 
first American ambassador and his family, whom be 
was glad to see in England ; be expressed a great es- 
teem and regard for iVmerica and much regret at tbe 
misunderstandings between tbe countries and felt very 
happy to have lived to see a termination of it." 

Philip 

An Indian King 

Tbe Pilgrims Avere not the first white men who had 
visited Massachusetts. Explorers and trading parties 
bad landed on tbe coast. At one time a fishing party 
had come to trade for furs and skins, and had carried 
off five Indians, one of whom was Squanto. Later, 
another vessel carried off twenty-seven Indians. Tbe 
red men early learned to distrust and fear the pale 
faces. 

Tbe settlers of Plymoutli endeavored to win the 



119 

friendship of the Indians. They presented knives, 
copper chains, and other trinkets to Massasoit who 
was sachem, or chief, of the Indian tribes of the 
neighborhood, and made a treaty of friendship with 
him. As long as Massasoit lived, the Indians and 
the English lived in comparative peace. 

But year after year the natives and the colonists 
became less friendly to each other. The white men 
came in constantly-increasing numbers and occupied 
the best of the land. When the Indians had sold it 
for beads or knives or trinkets, they thought that the 
English wished it for a season's hunting and fish- 
ing. But the English established farms and villages 
and towns and took permanent possession. Game and 
fish grew less, plentiful and as the English prospered 
the Indians grew poorer. The Indians resented being 
treated as an inferior race by the white people. The 
Pilgrims resented the savages' lack of regard for prop- 
erty rights, their gathering frait and grain and shoot- 
ing cows like deer. The two races were too diiJerent 
to thrive and prosper side by side. Some of the natives 
adopted the faith of the white men. These " praying 
Indians," as they were called, identified themselves to 
a gi-eat extent with the white people and were regarded 
as traitors to their own race. 

However, there was no open outbreak till after the 
death of Massasoit. The old sachem left two sons whom 
the English called Alexander and Philip. Alexander, 



120 

tlic elder, succeeded his father as sachem. The English 
suspected that Alexander was jDlotting with a hostile 
tribe against them, and they seized him and carried 
him as a prisoner to Plymouth. Nothing could be 
proved against him and he w^as soon released, but on 
the way home he died — probably of fever. The In- 
dians, however, thought that he had been poisoned by 
the white men. 

Philip succeeded his brother in authority. He was 
a renowned warrior, as wise and prudent as he was 
brave. We are told that instead of treating his wife 
as a slave, according to Indian custom, he made her 
his friend and companion. K^ext to his wife and child, 
Philip loved the people of his tribe. He saw with 
grief that his people were constantly growing weaker 
and the English were constantly increasing in num- 
bers and in strength. He protested against the wrongs 
of the Englishmen but these wrongs were unredressed. 
Still, Ave are told, that he did not favor war ; he realized 
that his people were unable to withstand the English 
and war would only hasten their ruin. 

Against the wishes and commands of Philip, war 
began, brought on by the excesses of bad men on both 
sides. In June, 1675, some young Indians burned a 
village and were attacked by the settlers. The aroused 
savages went from one bloody deed to another, burning 
houses and villages, murdering men, women, and chil- 
dren. About the time that the war began, Philip 



121 

crossed Narragansett Bay and went to a tribe in the 
Connecticut valley. For nearly a year he was not seen 
by the English, and we do not know to what extent he 
countenanced and directed the war that was being 
waged. 

The town of Deerfield was burned and Hadley and 
Hatfield were attacked. While the settlers at Hadley 
were in confusion, it is said that a venerable old man 
suddenly appeared and led them forward to repel the 
foe. When victory was gained, he disappeared as 
mysteriously as he had come. It w^as asserted that this 
was Goffe, one of the men who had sentenced Charles I. 
to death. When Charles II. became king, Goffe fled to 
the New World and lived in seclusion in Connecticut. 
In " The Gray Champion " Hawthorne tells this story 
with some changes. 

The Narragansett Indians went on the war-path 
against the white men. Their headquarters were on an 
island in a swamp which was thought to be inacces- 
sible. Here, in five hundred wigwams, were sheltered 
the women and children of the tribe and were stored 
their supplies of corn. By the treachery of one of 
Philip's warriors, the path to the island was betrayed to 
the white men. In the depth of winter the colonists 
made their way through the swamp to the island, killed 
men, women, and children without mercy, and burned 
the fort and the whole settlement. King Philip's wife 
and son had been taken prisoners and sent to the Bei^^ 



122 

mudas where they were sold as slaves. Still the In- 
dians refused to submit. One of the warriors who 
advised surrender was killed by King Philip's own 
hand. .At last in August, 1676, he was surrounded at 
his old home, Mount Hope, not far from Providence, 
Ehode Island, and was shot. His body was cut to 
pieces and fastened on trees, and his head was exposed 
on the top of a pole in Plymouth. The Puritans held 
a thanksgiving to celebrate their victory in King Phil- 
ip's War. The inevitable conflict between the white 
men and the red had come and the whites were the 
victors. But nearly one-tenth of the fighting force had 
been killed, and there was hardly a village or even a 
home in !N"ew England which had not suffered loss. 

Nathaniel Bacon, 

The Leader of the Great Eebellion 

It was not only with outsiders — French, Dutch, 
Spaniards, and Indians — that the English settlers had 
trouble. One faction in the colonies warred against 
another. In Virginia the established order was al- 
most overthrown in the seventeenth century by the 
" Great Rebellion." 

For many years the governor of the colony was Sir 
William Berkeley, an aristocrat who would not allow 
the people to have any share in the government of the 
colony. He feared that if the House of Burgesses was 



123 

dismissed and new members elected lie would lose con- 
trol of it. So lie adjourned it from one session to an- 
other, and year after year called together men whom 
he could trust to obey his will. A very stubborn and 
overbearing will it was, oj^posed to all progress and 
firmly set against granting rights to common people. 
He approved of high taxes and did not wish the com- 
mon people to vote ; above all, he opposed public educa- 
tion and the liberty of the press. " I thank God there 
are no free schools nor printing presses," he said in 
1671, " and I hope we shall not have them these hun- 
dred years." 

There were now about forty thousand people in 
Virginia, many of whom had been born and reared 
there. For the most part, they disapproved of Berke- 
ley's high-handed course and of his disregard of the 
rights and privileges of the colonists. But he was the 
lawful governor and they were loyal, law-abiding peo- 
ple; probably they would have gone on submitting and 
grumbling had it not been for the Indian attacks and 
Governor Berkelev's failure to protect the outlying set- 
tlements. Fierce Indian tribes from Pennsylvania had 
come south ; they M-ere now on the borders of the Vir- 
ginia colony — murdering, burning, and pillaging, 
making life and property unsafe. In the spring of 
1676 the House of Burgesses voted to send five hundred 
men to protect the frontiers, but instead of ordering 
them to march Berkeley disbanded the little army. 



There was at this time in Jamestown an Enelishnian 
as hrave and resohite as Berkeley himself and as de- 
voted to the rights of the people as Berkeley was to 
those of the king. This was Nathaniel Bacon. lie 
had been in Virginia only a few months, but he was 
so popular and so talented that soon after his arrival 
he was chosen a member of the governor's council. 

A few weeks after the governor disbanded the army 
which should have marched to protect the frontier set- 
tlements, Bacon rceived news that the Indians had 
attacked his plantation on the James and had killed the 
overseer and a servant. Immediately he collected a 
little band of his friends and neighbors and servants, 
and marched against the Indians. He sent to ask 
Berkeley for a commission ; this was refused and Bacon 
marched on without it. He defeated the Indians and 
returned home in triumph. 

Governor Berkeley was angry because Bacon had as- 
sumed authority without a commission and would have 
liked to punish him as a traitor. But the sympathies 
of the people were with the young Englishman; the 
governor had to give up and in the end had to promise 
Bacon a commission to fight against the Indians. He 
delayed drawing up the paper, however, until Bacon 
at the head of several hundred planters marched to 
Jamestown and required it by force. 

At the head of these troops, Bacon marched from 
Jamestown into the Indian country. The goveriKir, 



125 

meanwhile, declared Bacon a traitor, raised forces, and 
prepared to fight. Bacon and his men pledged them- 
selves to stand together in defence of the rights of the 
people. This was in August, 1G7G, a hundred years 
before the American Bevohition, which, like the Great 
Rebellion, was undertaken to uphold the people's rights. 

When Bacon returned from war with the Indians 
he found war awaiting him at home. The people of 
the colony were divided in their interests and sym- 
pathies. Some sided with Bacon for people's rights, 
some sided with Berkeley because that was the cause 
of the king and lawful authority. There was a stub- 
born fight in which Bacon was victor and became master 
of Jamestown. Fearing that they could not hold it 
and unwilling for it to fall into Berkeley's hands, the 
rebels burned the town, the capitol of Virginia, the 
first seat of English power on this continent. It is 
said that Bacon and other gentlemen who had houses 
there fired them with their own hands. 

Bacon showed no disposition to take power into his 
own hands, only wishing to put down the tyranny of 
Berkeley. After a brief course of victory, he died of 
fever, October, 1G76. His followers buried him in the 
forest and the place of his gTave remains unknown to 
this day. 

A few months later, troops from England came as 
reinforcements to Berkeley. lie made himself again 
master of the colony and took swift and bloody revenge 



126 

on liis enemies. More than twenty persons were 
hanged for their share in the rebellion. 

" As I live," said Charles II., angrily, when the news 
reached him, " the old fool has pnt to death more people 
in that naked country than I did for the murder of my 
father." 

Benjamin Franklin. 

A Great Typical American 

The men about whom we have been reading were all 
natives of Europe — Englishmen, Italians, French- 
men, Dutchmen, — adventurers seeking wealth or power, 
settlers intent on gaining national or personal power, 
religious or civil liberty. It is not until the eighteenth 
century that we come across our first, our great typical 
American. This is Benjamin Eranklin, keen and 
quick of wit, shrewd and energetic, a man of business 
and a scholar, a politician and a scientist. 

Benjamin Franklin was the son of an English trades- 
man of plain respectable family, who came to New Eng- 
land in order to enjoy the free exercise of his religion. 
He made his home in Boston. There Benjamin was 
born in 1706 and there his childhood was passed. Many 
incidents of it are familiar to us all. You remember 
how when he was a child of seven he gave all his 
pennies for a whistle. But the money was not wasted, 
for the incident taught him to consider the real value 
of things and not to spend too much time, thought, or 




BENJAMIX FRANKLIN 



127 

money for trifles, — in other words, " Don't give too 
much for the whistle." 

When a little older he led his companions in taking 
some building-stones to construct a wharf to stand on 
while fishing; he tried to justify his conduct to his 
father, saying that his wharf was a public benefit but 
his father taught him a great truth : " My son, noth- 
ing can ever be truly useful, which is not at the same 
time truly honest." 

Benjamin learned to read almost as soon as he learned 
to talk, and he was so fond of books that his father 
wished to have him educated for the ministry. This 
plan had to be given up for lack of money. Mr. 
Franklin was a poor man with seventeen children, and 
when Benjamin was only ten years old he had to leave 
school and help his father in the shop. Mr. Franklin 
made and sold soap and candles, and it was Benjamin's 
duty to cut candle-wicks and to pour tallow into molds 
to make candles. He did not like this work, and when 
he was twelve years old he was apprenticed to his 
brother James to learn the trade of a printer. He was 
so fond of books that it was thought he would like this 
work. He had read with interest his father's few 
books, among which were Bunyan's wonderful " Pil- 
grim's Progress " and " Plutarch's Lives." With his 
brother James, Benjamin had access to more books and 
more opportunity for reading, but the two brothers did 
not get on well together. Partly this was James's fault, 



12S 

for he was harsh and overbearing; partly it was Ben- 
jamin's, for he tells us that he was pert and provok- 
ing. 

Altliongli Benjamin Franklin's school days had ended 
so early, his education was just beginning; he appre- 
ciated the value of learning and was spending his lei- 
sure in study. When he was an old man he wrote for 
his son the story of his life. In this autobiography he 
tells how he trained himself. He read carefully one of 
th(> papers of the " Spectator," a model of good English, 
and aftenvards wrote it down in his own words. Some- 
times he changed it into verse and then later turned 
it back into jDrose. By comparing his version with the 
original, he discovered and corrected his faults. This 
is of interest because Franklin became one of our best 
waiters of good English. His command of clear, sim- 
ple, strong English won attention for what he had to 
say. 

Young Franklin and his brother got on so badly to- 
gether that he resolved not to remain at home till the 
end of his apprenticeship. When he was seventeen, he 
sold some of his books and left home with a few dol- 
lars in his pocket. He went on board a vessel bound 
to Xew York. Three days after leaving home, he 
landed in that city where he hoped to find work. New 
York was then only a small town, and young Franklin 
found no demand for his services with " the printer in 
the place." Therefore he went on to Philadelphia, 



120 

wliicli was tlien a iinicli larger and more important 
place than New York. Part of tlie way he walked, 
part he traveled by boat ; one Sunday morning in the 
autumn of 1723, he reached Philadelphia. 

In his account of his, life he gives us a vivid picture 
of himself, a friendless, homeless boy, walking hungry 
up the streets of the strange city. He met a boy with 
some bread and asked where he could buy food. Being 
directed to the baker's, he asked for " three penny- 
worth " of bread and received " three great puffy rolls." 
Then he says, he " having no room in my pockets, walked 
off with a roll under each arm and eating the other." 
Thus he passed the home of a Mr. Eead, and at the door 
stood his daughter Deborah, who laughed at the " awk- 
ward, ridiculous appearance " of the strange lad. This 
Deborah Eeed a few years later became Franklin's 
wife. Being satisfied with one roll, the youth gave 
the other two to a woman and child who had come on 
the boat with him. 

He soon got work with a printer in the town, but 
gave it up because the governor offered to set him up 
in business for himself. He went to London, to buy 
the outfit needed for his trade. On arriving there, he 
found that the governor had failed to send the promised 
letters of credit, — had, indeed, no credit himself — and 
the youth, penniless, in a foreign land, was thrown on 
his ovra resources. He sought and secured work as a 
printer, and remained in London about a year. He 
I 



130 

then rotnrnod to Philadelphia, where he worked awhile 
as salesman in a shop and afterwards at his trade. 
Soon after his return, he married Deborah Read, who 
made him a good and helpful wife, managing his home 
and aiding him in the shoj). 

Franklin had the " prospering virtues " of economy, 
industry, and temperance, and he increased in worldly 
goods and in the esteem of his townspeople. Despite 
some serious personal failings, he was a good citizen 
and in public questions people came more and more 
to respect his judgment. 

In the American colonies in the eighteenth century, 
there were few newspapers and those had a small cir- 
culation. Xearly every printer, however, published an 
almanac which contained weather forecasts, advice, 
jokes, and miscellaneous information. These almanacs 
had a large sale and in many homes the only books 
to be found were an almanac and a Bible. In 1733 
Franklin published an almanac which he announced 
was prepared by one Richard Saunders, called for short 
" Poor Richard," a character which Franklin created 
and represented as overflowing with quaint humor and 
wise and witty sayings. " Poor Richard's Almanac" 
became the most popular of all publications of the kind. 
Franklin kept up the yearly issue till 1758, when he 
turned it over to his partner. 

Franklin was a man who was never so busy about 



t 131 

many things that he did not have time for another. 
Yon have been tokl how he acquired a good English 
style ; to this was added the charm that he always had 
something to say that was worth hearing. He was 
fond of different branches of science and was gifted 
with inventive talent. He studied the laws which gov- 
ern the movement of hot air, and invented what is 
called an " open fireplace stove ;" under the name of 
" the Franklin stove " or " Pennsylvania firejDlace," a 
modified form of it is still in use. 

When he was about forty years old, Franklin became 
interested in the subject of electricity and became 
convinced that lightning is a manifestation of elec- 
tricity. He proved this by a famous experiment, draw- 
ing the current down the string of a kite in a storm. 
He invented the lightning rod — for he was always 
trying to apply the principles of science so as to make 
them useful. Among his other inventions, was a 
musical instrument called the " Armonica," a kind of 
musical glasses. 

Franklin was a progressive and public-spirited citi- 
zen. He organized an orderly night-watch for Phil- 
adelphia, established the first volunteer fire com- 
pany, the first hospital, and the first subscription and 
circulating library, in America. He interested people 
in the subject of education and established an academ.y 
which became the College of Philadelphia, and was 



132 

the real origin of the University of Pennsylvania. He 
originated also the American Philosophical Society " to 
propagate useful knowledge." 

For years he served as postmaster, first of Philadel- 
phia, and afterwards as deputy postmaster-general of 
the colonies; he introduced many reforms in the postal 
service and improved the methods of carrying mail to 
and from the seventy post offices then in the country. 

Franklin was now nearly fifty years of age and he 
was just to begin the career which made him honored 
and renowned. This was his work as a patriot at home 
and abroad. 

When the French and Indian War broke out, he was 
commissioned to procure wagons for Braddock's army. 
In two weeks by the exercise of private means and 
wonderful energy, he procured one hundred and fifty 
wagons and two hundred and fifty pack-horses. After 
Braddock's defeat, Franklin, with a band of men whom 
he had persuaded to enlist, went to protect the settlers 
on the frontier against the Indians. 

It was not as a soldier, however, that he was to serve 
his country best. Oppressive and burdensome laws 
were passed for the government of the colonies, and it 
was resolved to send some one to England to protest 
against them. Benjamin Franklin was sent to repre- 
sent first Pennsylvania, later Georgia, New Jersey, and 
Massachusetts. He spent several years in England and 
succeeded In getting repealed the laws to which the colo- 



133 

nies objected. Then lie returned home. But soon the 
English government passed laws more oppressive than 
ever. One of these was the Stamp Act. Franklin 
ably and eloquently presented the cause of the colonists, 
stating that they were willing to bear their fair share 
of expenses, but that on principle they were opposed 
to taxation without representation. The king and his 
ministers were not disposed to gTant the reasonable de- 
mands of the colonists. Franklin was insulted and 
abused. In 1775 he returned to a home made desolate 
during his absence by the death of his wife. 

The battle of Lexington had already been fought, and 
the greatest and wisest of the Americans realized that 
there was nothing left but to fight for the rights they 
had failed to gain by respectful petition. 

In 1776 there met at Philadelphia the second Conti- 
nental Congress, composed of delegates from the colo- 
nies. It was resolved to form a colonial government 
and Benjamin Franklin w^as one of a committee ap- 
pointed to draw up a declaration of independence. 
This declaration was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and 
was adopted so nearly in his words that he is regarded 
as its author. On the fourth of July, 1776, this decla- 
ration was adopted by Congress, and henceforth the 
colonies were fighting not only for redress of wrongs 
but for freedom. 

The next year Dr. Franklin, then over seventy years 
of age, was sent to France as one of the commissioners 



134J 

from the United States. It was very important for 
the struggling colony to gain aid and recognition from 
France. ISTo more popular or more influential am- 
bassador could have been selected than Franklin ; he 
gained terms more favorable than any other American 
could have secured. 

The three American commissioners did not always 
agree. Franklin was accused of mismanagement of af- 
fairs, or at least of failing to exercise proper over- 
sight. He talked little in his own defence. " A spot 
of dirt thrown Upon my character I suffered while fresh 
to remain ;" he once said shrewdly. " I did not choose 
to spread by endeavoring to remove them, but relied 
on the vulgar adage that they would all rub off when 
dry." 

At first the French were not willing openly to help 
the rebelling English colonies, but they gave secret aid. 
The patriots, however, seemed to be losing instead of 
gaining ground, and the outlook was gloomy at home 
and abroad. The commissioners in France were dis- 
tressed by a report that the English general Howe had 
taken Philadelphia. 

" Well, doctor," said an Englishman to Franklin, 
" Howe has taken Philadelphia." 

" I beg your pardon, sir," said Franklin, " Phila- 
delphia has taken Howe." 

But though he endeavored to put a brave face on the 
matter, his heart was full of apprehension. A mcs- 



135 

senger came from the colonies and the commissioners 
rushed out to meet him, asking if Philadelphia were 
really taken. 

" Yes," answered the messenger. 

Franklin clasped his hands and turned to stumble 
back into the house: 

" But, sir, I have gTeater news than that," continued 
the messenger. " General Burgoyne and his whole 
army are prisoners of war." 

The French government hesitated no longer ; in a 
few weeks it openly recognized the United States, and 
made a treaty with them. 

In 1785 Franklin returned home. He was now 
nearly eighty, but his public life was not at an end. 
He was elected President of Pennsylvania and the next 
year he was sent as a delegate to the Convention which 
met to form a Constitution for the United States, In 
April, 1790, he died and was buried in his adopted 
home in Philadelphia. He had years before written 
an epitaph for himself. 

" The Body 

of 

Benjamin Franklin, Printer, 

(Like the cover of an old book. 

Its contents torn out, 

And stripped of its lettering and gilding,) 

Lies here food for'worms. 

Yet the work itself shall not be lost^ 



136 

For it will, (as he believed) appear once more 

In a new 

And more beautiful Edition 

Corrected and Amended 

By 

The Author." 

Montcalm and Wolfe 

You have heard of the beginnings of the French 
power in America — how Cartier and La Salle, Mar- 
quette and Champlain, explored the country and 
claimed it in the name of their king. They went up 
and down the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and 
established along the streams their trading-posts and 
military forts. 

The English meanwhile, settled along the Atlantic 
coast and established farms and villages. 

The English patents granted to their colonists the 
land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The 
French claimed and were occupying the Mississippi 
valley. The English pressed westward and crossed the 
Alleghany Mountains through gaps made by the rivers 
which the French claimed; the French pressed east- 
ward along these same rivers. Contact and conflict 
were inevitable. The French foresaw it and made 
their preparations accordingly. From the mouth of 
the St. Lawrence to- the mouth of the ]\Iississippi, they 
CStal^Ushed posts and organized their forces. French 



137 

traders, French missionaries, French settlers, upheld 
the power of their king. They made friends with the 
Indians of many tribes, but from the day that Champ- 
lain joined battle against the Iroquois, the Five Na- 
tions were the deadly enemies of the French and there^ 
fore the friends of the English. 

The English w^ere, as you may think, most unwilling 
to give up the western lands which they claimed. Gov- 
ernor Spottswood of Virginia, who in 1716 rode west- 
ward to the summit of the Blue Eidge at the head of 
a company of gentlemen, realized how important it 
was to hold this fair region against the French. He 
urged the English government to establish a chain of 
posts from the lakes to the Mississij^pi in order to keep 
back the French. His advice was unheeded. A few 
years later the French began to occupy the valley of 
the Ohio, and it became evident that there the two 
nations would clash. 

During this time there were growing into manhood 
two youths who were to be leaders when the conflict 
came. 

One of these was a Frenchman, Louis Joseph, Mar- 
quis de Montcalm. At the age of fourteen, he entered 
the army and at the age of eighteen he was a general. 
He did valiant service in Italy and in Germany. 

Several years younger than ]\Iontcalm was the Eng- 
lish soldier, James Wolfe. He also became a soldier 
at an early age and at sixteen was serving in the 



138 

iN'etherlands, doing a man's work in the battles which 
he described with boyish zest in his loving and dutiful 
letters to his mother in England. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, the 
French determined to shorten and strengthen their line 
of defence towards the south. They established a fort 
on French Creek and an outpost upon the Alleghany 
Eiver. This was land which the English claimed, 
and George Washington, then a lad of twenty-one, 
was sent to the French to demand that they leave the 
Ohio. A forced march was made through the pathless 
winter woods. The French commander received the 
messenger courteously, but informed him that they re- 
garded the land as their own and had no intention of 
yielding it to the English. This was in the winter 
of 1753. The next year Washington was sent in com- 
mand of a little force of three hundred and fifty men 
to uphold the English claim, and was defeated at 
Great Meadows by a French force of double the size. 
The English began to build a fort at the junction of 
the Alleghany and Monongahela liivers on a site se- 
lected by Washington, but the French drove them away 
and finished the fort, which they called Fort Du 
Quesne. 

In this emergency the colonies at first did not act 
together. Troops were sent from Virginia, South and 
North Carolina, and Maryland ; but the Quakers of 
Pennsylvania and the Dutch pf ISTew York said that 



139 

tlie English claim to tlic valloy of the Oliio was a 
matter of no importance, and did not move. Fortu- 
nately, the home government recognized the necessity of 
protecting the frontier, and of extending outposts ; 
troops were sent from England for this purpose. Thus 
in 1755 began the Seven Years' War which involved 
England and France in Europe ; in America this con- 
test was called the French and Indian War, from the 
enemies the English colonists had to encounter. 

The English general Braddock led forces to the 
northwest just as he would have marclied thom in a 
European campaign. He paid with his life the penalty 
of his ignorance of Indian warfare, being defeated and 
fatally w^ounded by an Indian attack in the forest. 
This defeat was the first of many. 

" I dread to hear from America," said the English 
statesman, Pitt, as month after month, year after year, 
brought tidings of defeat. 

In the spring of 1756, Montcalm was sent to Canada 
to command the French forces. He began a career 
of victory by capturing Fort Ontario at Oswego. The 
next year he captured Fort William Henry at the head 
of Lake George, with its garrison of twenty-five hun- 
dred men. In 1758, with thirty-six hundred men he 
defended Fort Ticonderoga against an English force of 
fifteen thousand. As he had neither men nor supplies 
to hold the place, he was compelled to abandon it the 
next year and retire to Quebec. Here he was to con- 



140 

tend in a death struggle with the English general 
Wolfe, who was sent to America in 1758. 

The English realized the value of their ISTew World 
possessions. The best of their troops were sent over 
to prosecute the war with vigor. Montcalm, on the 
other hand, lacked men, means, ammunition, and sup- 
plies, for which he appealed in vain to the home gov- 
ernment. . With a sad heart he foresaw the downfall 
of French power in America. Eesolved " to find his 
grave under the ruins of the colony," he bent all his 
energies to the struggle. 

One place after another was captured by the Eng- 
lish. ISTews of their victories came now as regularly 
as tidings of their defeat had come a few months be- 
fore, Louisburg, a naval station and fortified town 
commanding the mouth of the St. Lawrence, was at- 
tacked and taken. The Erench were driven from Eort 
Erontenac at Oswego which guarded the outlet of the 
Great Lakes. Eort Du Quesne was taken by Washing- 
ton, and Crown Point was captured and strengthened. 

In 1759 the rival powers made ready for a final strug- 
gle at Quebec, the stronghold of the Erench. Montcalm 
had retired there and collected his forces — fourteen 
thousand men. Wolfe, with a smaller anny, besieged 
the place. Week after week the English endeavored 
to find a vulnerable spot; week after week the Erench 
held the strongly-fortified city. At last Wolfe deter- 
mined to conduct soldiers up a bluff which was so steep 



141 

that It was tlioiight to be inaccessible and so was not 
strongly guarded. 

One September night his boats dropped down the 
river and landed the soldiers who marched np the cliff. 
On the way Wolfe quoted some lines from Gray's noble 
poem, "■' The Elegy in a Country Churchyard :" 

" The boast of heraldry, tlie pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave 
Await alike the inevitable hour: — 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

" I would rather have written that than to take 
Quebec," he said. 

By daybreak four thousand, five hundred men were 
on the heights above Quebec. Montcalm, with such a 
force as he could collect, made ready to attack. 

Wolfe gave his last charge to his men : " The of- 
ficers and men will remember what their country ex- 
pects from them, and what a determined body of sol- 
diers are capable of doing against five weak battalions, 
mingled with a disorderly peasantry. The soldiers 
must be attentive to their officers, and resolute in the 
execution of their duty." 

lie led his men forward to the plains of Abraham, 
an open tract about a mile from Quebec. In the attack 
Wolfe was wounded. He was informed that the French 
were retreating and an eye-witness says that he 
^' raised himself up on this news and smiled in my 



142 

face. ^ ISTow/ said he, ' I die contented/ and from that 
instant the smile never left his face till he died." 

Montcalm, too, was mortally wounded. On being 
told that death was near he said, " So much the better ; 
I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." 

The fall of this stronghold was the practical loss of 
Canada. By the treaty of peace in 1763, France 
yielded to England all her northern possessions in 
America, and her claim on the eastern valley of the 
Mississipj)i. 

Patrick Henry 

An Eloquent Orator 

Up to the very time that war was begun, Franklin 
hoped that it might be averted ; even then while he 
hoped that the colonies would get their rights, he ex- 
pected them to remain subject to England. Patrick 
Henry was one of the few men who looked with eagle 
eye into the future and saw that the American cause — 
the cause of freedom — must be ujDheld by force of 
arms. 

Patrick Henry was born in Virginia, in 1736, He 
was an awkward and idle lad who picked up a smatter- 
ing of an education at an " old field school," as the 
country schools of the time were called. He Avas fond 
of 1x)oks, but fonder still of his giui and his fishing-rod 
with which he spent most of his spare time in the 
woods. 



143 

It was, however, necessary for him to set to work 
when a boy of fifteen. He became a clerk in a store 
and then opened a little shop of his own — bnt he did 
not sncceed either as clerk or shopkeeper. He married 
in yonng manhood and in order to support his wife 
and children he went to work on a farm ; here also he 
failed. He went back to shopkeeping — and failed 
again. By this time people had a poor opinion of the 
idle, slovenly young man whose life had been a series 
of failures. The truth is, Heni*y was like a fish out 
of water ; but in the course of time he was to find 
his element. 

At the age of twenty-four, he read law for six weeks, 
was examined by judges, and was given a license to prac- 
tice the profession. The judges granted his license 
with much hesitation. Henry was ignorant of the law, 
— had indeed read only the Virginia Statutes and one 
other law-book. But he showed remarkable powers of 
thought and reasoning, natural not acquired qualifica- 
tions, and the license was granted on condition that 
he would continue to study. One of the judges said,- 
" Mr. Henry, if your industry be only half equal to 
your genius, I augur that you will do well, and become 
an ornament and an honor to your profession." 

It is not strange, however, that the small amount of 
law business which was in his community did not come 
Henry's way. People naturally preferred to put their 
business in the hands of those whom they considered 



144 

better qualified. He eked out a support for his family 
by aiding bis father-in-law to manage a tavern. 

In 1763 he had what seems to have been his first 
really important case, — one which was turned over to 
him because no one else cared to undertake it. This 
was the famous '' Parsons' Case." In order to under- 
stand it, you must remember that the colony of Vir- 
ginia M-as then a part of England and that the church 
of England, like its civil government, was established 
by law. The salaries of clergymen were raised by a 
regular tax on all the people. As money was scarce 
in the colonies, this tax was paid in tobacco which was 
the regular currency of Virginia. By law sixteen thou- 
sand pounds of tobacco was a clergyman's yearly salary. 

The people do not seem to have objected to pay- 
ing these salaries, and usually they found no fault 
with the amount of them. Twice, however, after bad 
crop years, the House of Burgesses passed laws allow- 
ing the payment of money instead of tobacco at a rate 
lower than the price of tobacco in these years of scarcity. 
Xaturally, the clergymen did not like this, and they 
finally appealed to the king of England who decided 
that the salaries must be paid in tobacco every year. 
So the clergj'men of Hanover county where Henry lived 
brought suit for the loss sustained by the payment of 
money instead of tobacco. As the king, who was the 
supreme authority, had decided the matter in favor of 
the clergymen, it seemed that there was nothing for the 



145 

Virginia courts to do but to agree on tlie amount of 
damages due and pay them. Henry, however, offered 
to plead the case against the parsons and plead it he 
did with unexpected power. He told the people fear- 
lessly that this was a matter for them to decide. They 
were to be governed by their House of Burgesses. It 
had made this law, and the king of England had no 
right to gainsay it. Henry spoke so eloquently that 
he won the sympathy of all. The jury could not put 
aside the king's decree but it gave a nominal adher- 
ence to that and a real one to Henry's argiiment ; for 
it stated the clergymen's damages as one penny each, 
about two cents. 

From that time Henry was " the man of the peo- 
ple ;" a little ahead of the conservative element, but al- 
ways in sympathy with the people and always upon 
the side of the cause which in the end proved right. 
After his success in " the Parsons' Case," he did not 
lack law business. He was sent in the spring of 1Y65 
to the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg. This was 
then the site of the Virginia government; having been 
selected after Jamestown was burned in the Great Re- 
bellion. 

The people of the colonies — even the loyal Virgin- 
ians — were beginning to be dissatisfied with the treat- 
ment of the mother-country. The Seven Years' War 
between England and France had come to an end two 
years before. It had, of course, cost a great deal of 
J 



146 

money; in particular, the sending of troops and sup- 
plies against the French in America had been very ex- 
pensive. The English government said that the col- 
onies ought to bear a large share of the war debt; the 
contest had begun on the American frontier and the 
English victory had extended colonial territory and 
trade. On the whole, this was not unfair. Probably 
the colonies would have agreed to it, if they had been 
allowed to send representatives to parliament — the 
English legislative body which has the power of taxa- 
tion. But the English were not willing to grant that 
right. Then, said the Americans, " We must not be 
taxed. ' Taxation without representation is tyranny.' " 

England paid little attention to the protests from 
America. A Stamp Act was passed, — that is, a law 
requiring a stamp to be put on all papers to make them 
legal. The money for these stamps was to be a source 
of revenue to help pay the war debt. When the mat- 
ter was being discussed, Virginia protested against this 
Stamp Act. JSTevertheless, in May, 1765, a copy of 
the act was sent to the Virginia legislature, with the in- 
formation that it had become a law and must be en- 
forced at a certain time. 

In the House of Burgesses, in 1765, among stately 
gentlemen in silks and velvets with their curled and 
powdered wigs, sat a raw country man dressed in 
ihabby clothes and wearing his own plain hair. This 
was Patrick Henrv. One dav he arose and addressed 



147 

that gathering of high-bred scholarly men and pre- 
sented certain resolutions to the effect that the people 
of the colonies had all the rights and privileges of the 
people of Great Britain, — were like them Englishmen 
— and that the taxes must, according to " characteris- 
tics of British freedom " be laid by the people them- 
selves or by those chosen by them — that only the gen- 
eral assembly of Virginia had a right to lay taxes on 
Virginians, and that the people were not bound to obey 
any other laws. 

In the heated discussion which followed, Henry pro- 
tested against the despotic action of the king. 
" Csesar had his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell, and 
George III."— 

" Treason, treason ! " came the interruption. 

" May profit by their example," concluded the orator. 
" If that be treason make the most of it." 

Henry's resolutions were carried by a majority of 
one. These resolutions and his speech had " started 
the ball of revolution rolling." The Stamp Act, so 
vigorously protested against, was repealed, but new 
and hateful taxes were laid on tea, glass, paper, and 
other articles. 

Ten years passed during which Henry practiced his 
profession, served four years in the House of Burgesses, 
and took an interest in all public questions. During 
these ten years, the colonies had drifted and been driven 
further from England, the mother country. Patrick 



148 

Henrj saw that the encroachments on the rights of the 
people must be resisted — not by words now, but by 
arms. In the spring of 1775 a convention of Vir- 
ginia leaders met in St. John's church in Richmond to 
consider the state of the country. 

Henry rose and " resolved that this colony be im- 
mediately put in a posture of defence." The matter 
was argued earnestly; many men advised sending new 
petitions to the king. Then Patrick Henry made the 
speech, which every school-boy knows, urging not peti- 
tion but action. " Is life so dear," he ended, " or 
peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery ? Forbid it. Almighty God ! I know not 
what course others may take but as for me give me lib- 
erty or give me death ! " 

He carried the patriots wdth him and his resolutions 
were passed ; thus Virginia announced that she would 
tight for her rights. A few weeks later the English 
general. Gage, attacked the people in Massachusetts and 
the colonies sprang to arms. 

Henry served three years as governor of Virginia. 
After the Revolution, he took for some time an active 
part in public affairs and then withdrew to private life. 
In 1799, at the personal request of Washington, he 
became a candidate for office and was elected to the 
House of Delegates. But he did not live to take his 
seat, dying June 6, 1799. 




SAMUEL ADAMS 



149 

Samuel Adams 

A Massachusetts Patriot 

Samuel Adams is often called '' the father of the 
devolution." He was the great-grandson of one of the 
Puritan settlers who came to Massachusetts in the sev- 
enteenth century, and was born at Boston, Massachu- 
setts, in 1722. 

Adams was not a typical thrifty New Englander. 
His private life was a series of business failures and 
hardships that remind us of the early career of Patrick 
Henry. Adams, however, unlike Henry, was college 
bred, having been educated at Harvard. He tried law 
as a profession, but did not like it well enough to con- 
tinue its practice. Then he became, first a clerk and 
then a merchant, and as both he was a failure. jSText 
he became a brewer, and in this trade, also, he was un- 
successful. The truth is, he kept too busy attending 
to public business to pay proper attention to his pri- 
vate afPairs. Perhaps his attention was first called to 
public matters by a private gTievance. A law passed 
by Parliament against certain stock-companies made it 
necessary to close a banking company with which his 
father was connected and swept away his fortune. 

Unsuccessful as Samuel Adams was as a business 
man, it was known that he was a good citizen, with 
wise and patriotic views about public matters. He 
ably voiced colonists' objections to the arbitrary taxation 



150 

of the British govcrnmont. " If taxes are laid upon 
us," he said, in a paper in 1764, " in any shape with- 
out our having a legal representation where they are 
laid, are we not reduced from the character of Free 
Subjects to the miserable state of tributary Slaves ? 
We claim British rights not by charter only. We are 
bom to them ! " 

Adams was a member of the Massachusetts legisla- 
ture in 1Y65 and the famous " Massachusetts Resolves " 
were his work. They expressed loyalty to the king, 
but refused to aid to execute the Stamp Act. It was 
not against England as yet but against the unjust laws 
of the despotic king and ministry that there was hos- 
tility. 

Hutchinson, who w^as the royal governor, informed 
the home government that its course was unwise. " It 
cannot be good policy," he said, " to tax the Americans ; 
it will prove prejudicial to the national interests. You 
will lose more than you will gain. Britain reaps the 
profit of all their trade and of the increase of their sub- 
stance." But his warning was unheeded, and it de- 
volved upon him to execute the unpopular acts. He 
suffered as the instrument of British oppression. His 
house was attacked and destroyed, and he and his fam- 
ily were driven away. 

The first of l^ovember came — the day on which the 
Stamp Act was to go into effect. Boston church bells 
tolled and minute guns were fired. The stamps lay 



151 

untonched ; business stopped, because people would not 
buy and use tliem as required bj law. The Stamp Act 
"was repealed, but Parliament at the same time took 
occasion to assert " that it was competent to legislate 
for the colonies in all cases whatsoever." Other un- 
just taxes were laid and protest followed protest from 
the colonies. 

In order to uphold the king's authority, British sol- 
diers were sent to Boston. On a March day in 1770 
occurred one of the many quarrels between the soldiers 
and the citizens. A company of soldiers was sent out 
to disperse the mob ; it refused to disperse, and the 
soldiers fired, killing three people and wounding sev- 
eral others. This was the famous " Boston massacre." 

The infuriated people would have attacked the sol- 
diers but Samuel Adams persuaded them to refrain 
from disorder and bloodshed; he advised them to de- 
mand from the governor the withdrawal of the two 
regiments stationed in Boston. This was agreed to 
and the next day a committee, of which Samuel Adams 
was the spokesman, went to Governor Hutchinson to 
make this demand. The governor said at first that 
he had no authority to remove the troops ; after talk- 
ing with the commander, however, he promised to send 
one regiment away. 

" Sir," said Samuel Adams, " if you have authority 
to remove one regiment you have autliority to remove 
two ; and nothing short of the departure of the troops 



152 

will satisfy the public mind or restore the peace of the 
province." 

The governor finally had to yield to the demand of 
the people that he withdraw '' both regiments or none " 
and the soldiers were sent to the castle. 

As time passed, Adams ceased to hope for reconcilia- 
tion between the colonies and England. He realized 
that it was important for the colonies to make common 
cause in defence of their rights. On his motion in the 
Massachusetts legislature in 1772 citizens were ap- 
pointed as Committees of Correspondence to " state, 
communicate, and publish the rights of the colonies." 
From this beginning grew the union of the colonies. 

Matters came to a crisis in Boston M'hen the tea on 
which a tax was laid was sent to the port. It had been 
sent to IsTew York and Philadelphia, and there the peo- 
j)le refused to allow it to be landed and it was re- 
turned to England. In South Carolina it was landed 
and left to mold in cellars because the people would 
not purchase it. In December, 1773, Samuel Adams, 
so often the spokesman of the people, went to ask the 
governor to send the tea back to England, instead of 
having it landed in Boston. In old South Church were 
assembled seven thousand people, to hear the result of 
his embassy. The governor refused. 

" This meeting can do nothing more to save the coun- 
try," said Samuel Adams when he announced the fact. 
But another scheme was on foot which was probably 



153 

known to Adams if not inspired by him. Some men 
disguised as Indians went to the harbor and threw over- 
board the three hundred and forty chests of tea. The 
next morning- the joatriots drank a decoction of native 
herbs while the Chinese tea floated on the salt waters 
of the bay. The Boston Tea Party, as it was called, 
by its disregard of the rights of property and its de- 
fiance of his authority, made the king very angry. 
There was passed the Boston Port Bill, which forbade 
vessels to enter or leave that port. 

General Gage was sent to Boston with soldiers to en- 
force the king's laws. General Gage realized that Sam- 
uel Adams, " the Cromwell of New England," was the 
ring-leader of the rebellion. An attempt was made to 
bribe Adams, wdio was very poor, with money or with 
position. But Adams was proof against the British 
offers. " I trust I have long since made my peace with 
the King of kings," he said. " I*^o personal consider- 
ation shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of 
my country." 

In June Gage dissolved the general court, and the 
jDatriots organized a government of their own. Largely 
through the influence of Samuel Adams, it was resolved 
that representatives of the colonies should meet in Phil- 
adelphia to discuss affairs. He went as the represent- 
ative of Massachusetts, which was suffering most from 
British oppression, having her port closed and an army 
stationed on her soil. We are told that Adams rode 



154 

to Philadelphia on a borrowed horse, wearing a coat 
presented to him " to enable him to make a decent ap- 
pearance." 

Delegates from eleven colonies met in this Congress 
in September, 17Y4, and discussed their situation. 
Among the delegates was a traitor who gave the royalists 
a full account of the meetings. This man said, " Sam- 
uel Adams eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, and 
thinks much. He is most decisive and indefatigable in 
the pursuit of his object. He is the man who, by his 
superior application, manages at once the factions in 
Philadelphia and the factions of New England." 

The peoj)le were now getting ready to fight. Minute 
men were being drilled, firearms and powder and ball 
were being collected. Samuel Adams encouraged all 
these preparations. 

One night lights in the belfry of the North Church at 
Boston — a system of signals agreed upon — informed 
the patriots that British troops were leaving the city. 
They were going to seize the military stores collected 
at Concord and Worcester by the patriots. Longfel- 
low's poem, " Paul Pevere," tells in stirring phrase how 
the patriot-messenger galloped forth to give the alarm. 
In Medford he roused John Hancock and Samuel 
Adams, two leaders whom Gage was anxious to capture. 
The minute men sprang to arms. When the British sol- 
diers, eight hundred in number, reached the village 
of Lexington about four o'clock on the morning of April 



19, 1775, thej found sixty or seventy men collected on 
the green. 

" Disperse, you rebels ! " said the English officer. 
" Lay down your arms." 

The men stood firm. Captain Parker had already 
given his orders: "Stand your ground! Don't fire 
unless fired upon, but if they mean war let it begin 
here." 

The British fired and the shots of the Americans 
rang out in answer; eight Americans lay dead on the 
green. The War of the Revolution was begun. 
Adams and Hancock heard the shots as they galloped 
from Medford. 

" Oh, what a glorious morning for America this is," 
said Adams. 

At Concord the minute men assembled and put the 
British to flight. From there to Boston, sixteen miles 
away, they fired on the British from behind trees and 
stone walls. Finally, the British broke and ran. 

On the northwest Boston was commanded by Bunker 
Hill and Breed's Hill. A force of Americans under 
Colonel Prescott occupied Breed's Hill one night and 
threw up earthworks to protect the city. The British 
soldiers marched forth to attack them and the American 
troops formed behind the earthworks and on the edge 
of Bunker Hill. 

" Wait till you can see the whites of their eyes," 
said the American leader, wishing to use the small sup- 



156 

ply of ammunition with deadly results. Twice the 
British attacked and twice they were driven back. 
Then the ammunition of the patriots was exhausted and 
they had to retreat. The news of the battle between the 
patriots and the king's troops was borne to the other 
colonists ; they came to the aid of Massachusetts. 

Samuel Adams, wdio had done so much to inspire re- 
sistance to oppression, did not serve the patriot's cause 
on the battle-field. His work was in Congress, and his 
position as a leader was so well recognized that the 
English excluded from the offer of pardon to the rebels 
two men — Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, and " one Samuel Adams." 

After the war was over, Adams served as governor of 
Massachusetts. He aided to draft the state constitu- 
tion, the only one of the old constitutions adopted im- 
mediately after the Revolution which is still in force. 
He died, October 2, 1803, and was buried in Boston. 
In the busy business heart of the city, there is a metal 
disc bearing the inscrijDtiou, " This marks the grave of 
Samuel Adams." 

George Washington. 

The Leader of the Eevolution 

The story of Washington, the personal history of the 
man who was identified with the independence of our 
country, has been told over and over and yet it never 



15Y 

fails to find interested listeners and one can well believe 
that it never will. He was born, February 22, 1732, 
on a plantation, or large farm, in Westmoreland County, 
Virginia. His father, Augustine Washington, was 
master of many broad acres but lacked what seem to us 
the very comforts of life. There was a houseful of 
children, too — four by the first wife, and six (of 
whom George was the eldest), by the second wife Mary 
Ball. 

llary Washington was kept busy with household 
cares. She superintended not only the cooking and 
washing and housework, but the spinning of thread, the 
weaving of cloth, the making of clothes, and other tasks 
which were then a part of home routine. 

When George was three years old, the family moved 
to Washington, the place afterwards named Mount 
Vernon, and there they lived about four years. 

When George was about seven, the family moved to a 
farm on the Rappahannock, across the river from what 
was then the little village of Fredericksburg. George 
was sent to an old field school where he was taught " to 
read and write and cipher." He was fond of writing 
and he wrote a clear, careful hand. His early copy 
books have been kept and we can read on the yellowed 
pages the moral jDrecepts which he copied down with 
great care when he was twelve years old. 

George early learned to ride and swim and excelled 
at outdoor sports and games, thanks to a strong body 



158 

and determined, energetic spirit. An early biographer, 
Weems, tells many stories of Ins childhood which are 
widely kno^^Ti. Of their truth or falsehood we cannot 
be sure. One is the famous story that George cut do^^^i 
a valuable cherry tree belonging to his father, and 
promptly confessed his misdeed, choosing punishment 
rather than falsehood. Another is that he undertook in 
boyish bravado to subdue his mother's favorite colt and 
continued the struggle until the animal burst a blood- 
vessel and died. This, also, he immediately confessed, 
and his mother while grieved over the death of her colt 
" rejoiced that her son was brave and truthful." 

Mr. Washington died when George was only ten 
years old, and on the mother devolved the early train- 
ing of the children. After his early childhood, George 
was with her but little. He was sent, soon after his 
father's death, to live with one of his older brothers to 
attend school. When he was fourteen, it was planned 
that he should go as a sailor, but the plan was given up 
and he returned to school and took up the study of 
surveying. 

His half-brother Lawrence, fourteen years older than 
he, was a soldier; perhaps as a boy George, who ad- 
mired and loved this brother, wished and planned to be 
a soldier, too. If so, he no doubt thought that he 
would wear a British uniform and fight for the king 
as did his brother, for the colonists then were contented 
and loyal subjects of England. 
! Lawrence Washington after his father's death in- 



159 

herited the estate of Washington and changed its name 
to Mount Vernon, in honor of an English admiral 
under whom he had served. Lawrence Washington, 
who was a fine, manly follow, married a Miss Fairfax 
whose home was near Mount Vernon. She was a 
consin of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, an English gentle- 
man who came to America to look after land which he 
had inherited from his grandfather. This was a rojal 
grant of all the land between the Rappahannock and Po- 
tomac Rivers. Lord Fairfax did not even know how 
many thousands of acres were in this great estate. So 
he employed young George Washington to explore and 
survey his lands. 

George Washington was sixteen years old when he 
set out, March, 1748, with one companion, to explore 
and survey Lord Fairfax's land. He had a good horse 
and a gun as well as his surveyor's instruments, and the 
two youths spent several weeks on the trip. Sometimes 
they met Indians and sat beside their camp fires and 
watched their war dances. Sometimea they slept out- 
doors, sometimes they spent the night in the rude huts 
of the settlers. " I have not slept above three or four 
nights in a bed," George Washington wrote, " but after 
walking a good deal all the day, I have lain down be- 
fore the fire on a little straw, or fodder, or a bearskin, 
whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children, 
like dogs and cats ; and happy is he who gets the berth 
nearest the fire." 

On his return Washington gave such a glowing de- 



160 

scvlption of the beautiful and fiu-tile eountn- lie luul 
visited, tliat Lord Fairfax determined to move there 
and nuike his home at Green way Court. He employed 
young- Washington to make a careful survey of his 
lands and got him appointed public snrveyor. During 
the next three years when Washington was not at work 
in the field he stayed at Greenway Court with Lord 
Fairfax. This gentleman was a scholar and a courtier 
and from intercourse with him the young surveyor 
gained breadth of mind and polished manners, while his 
outdoor life was making him strong and robust. 

At twenty he was a picture of stalwart manhood — • 
over six feet in height, straight as an Indian, and with 
dignified manners. About this time his brother Law- 
rence died, leaving- Mount Vernon to his little daughter ; 
George, his favorite brother, was to manage the estate 
and in case of the child's death was to inherit it. 

He went home to take charge of the fine old estate, 
but he did not long remain there. France and England 
were beginning their contest for supremacy in the 
countrv alona- the Ohio. When onlv twentv-one, Georjic 
Washing-ton was appointed to bear a protest to the 
French against their occupancy of the land. He set 
out the very day that he received his appointment, ac- 
companied by some white woodsmen and Indian hunters. 
His was a long, difficult journey through the untrav- 
eled forest to a fort hundreds of miles away near Lake 
Erie, and it was a vain one. He was received cour- 



161 

teonsly by the commander but was informed that the 
French were ordered to hold the country and would do 
so. The return journey was even more difficult than the 
journey to the fort. It was the depth of winter; the 
ground was covered with snow and the streams blocked 
with ice. Leaving the remainder of the party to follow 
later on horseback, Washington set out on foot with a 
woodsman named Gist. The two men made their way 
through the country inhabited by hostile Indians and 
fierce beasts. Once an Indian shot at young Washing- 
ton, once he fell into an ice-blocked stream and came 
near losing his life ; he accomplished the dangerous 
journey in safety and hurried to Williamsburg to in- 
form the governor of the result of his expedition. 

It was resolved to defend the frontiers, and some men 
were sent out to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio 
River near Pittsburg. But these men were attacked 
and defeated by the French who finished and occupied 
the fort. This they called Fort Du Quesne. The 
French soldiers marched forth in the spring of 1754 to 
meet the little band commanded by Washington. 
Washington, having defeased a small body of the 
French, stopped at a place called Great Meadows, and 
defended his troops by an earthwork w^hich he called 
Fort Necessity. Here he and his soldiers fought 
bravely against a French force of far superior numbers 
to which they had to yield at last. 

The next year, Washington, in charge of the Vir- 



162 

ginia troops, went with General Braddock, command ing 
the English forces, to attack the French and take Fort 
Du Qnesne. Braddock was brave but stubborn and ig- 
norant of the methods of Indian warfare. Washington 
wished the Virginia rangers to march in front in order 
to guard the army against surprise. 

" What ! " said Braddock, " a Virginia colonel teach 
a British general how to fight ! " 

Off he marched with flags flying, drums beating, and 
men in close ranks. Before they reached Fort Du 
Quesne, the French and Indians attacked them and 
inflicted a terrible defeat. Braddock paid the j)enalty 
of his folly with his life. Washington made a gallant 
effort to redeem the day. He said, " I had four bul- 
lets through my coat and two horses shot under me, yet 
escaped unhurt, altho' death was levelling my compan- 
ions on every side of me," On him devolved the diffi- 
cult task of leading the shattered remnant of the army 
back home, protecting it against the unfriendly Indians 
and the hostile French. 

After this campaign he was tendered a vote of thanks 
In the House of Burgesses. When he rose to reply, he 
blushed and faltered so that the Speaker said, " Sit 
down, Colonel Washington, sit down. Your modesty 
equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any 
language I possess." 

Two years later, as commander of the troops raised 
in Vire;inia to defend the froutier he marched against 



163 

Fort Du Quesne. The French, unable to hold it, set 
fire to it and retreated ; on the sj)ot, the English built a 
new fort Avhich they called Fort Pitt in honor of an 
English statesman, and on the site of this fort stands 
now the city of Pittsburg. The English were victors 
now and as most of the fighting was in New York and 
Canada instead of the Ohio country, Washington re- 
signed his commission and went home to Virginia. 

In January, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha Custis, a 
widow with a fine estate and two children. Washing- 
ton had no children of his own and his step-children, 
John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis, were like 
his own children. In the lists of goods he ordered from 
England we find such items as " One fashionable dress 
Doll to cost a guinea " and " A box of Gingerbread 
Toys and Sugar Images or Comfits." " Patsy," as the 
little girl was called, died in early girlhood, l)ut the 
boy lived to become a man and married, leaving at his 
death four children of whom two, George Washington 
Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, made their 
home at Mount Vernon as Washington's adopted chil- 
dren. 

Probably the happiest and most carefree years of 
Washington's life were those after his marriage which 
were spent at Mount Vernon which he had inherited at 
the death of his niece. Farming was his " most favor- 
ite pursuit," and he devoted himself with characteristic 
energy to improving his land by manures and rotation 



164 

of crops, and his stock of sheep, cattle, and horses by 
selection and breeding. He was a member of the House 
of Burgesses, took an interest in public affairs, and was 
regarded as one of the leading men in the colony. 

ISTot long after the French and Indian War, trouble 
arose between the colonies and England about taxation 
without representation. As you know, the trouble in 
Boston finally led to the passage of the Boston Port 
Bill. Virginia and the other colonies sympathized with 
Massachusetts. In a speech in the House of Burgesses 
Washington said, " I will raise a thousand men, sub- 
sist them at my own expense, and march with them, at 
their head, for the relief of Boston." 

George Washington was one of the six Virginia dele- 
gates to the first continental congress in September, 
17Y4. It was decided to raise a colonial army, and, 
June 15, 1775, Washington was appointed its com- 
mander-in-chief. In his speech accepting the office he 
refused to receive pay for his services, saying that only 
his expenses in the service should be repaid him at the 
end of the war. June 21 he left Philadelphia and 
rode to Massachusetts to take charge of the troops. On 
the third of July, at Cambridge under a great elm-tree 
still known as " Washington's elm," he assumed com- 
mand of the army. He was an imposing figure, a tall 
handsome man dressed in a blue coat with buff facings 
and buff small clothes or knee trousers. The army of 
which he took command, was, he said, *' a mixed nuiUi- 



105 

tilde of people, under very little discipline, order, or 
government." These troops, about sixteen thousand in 
number, had most of them been enlisted for but a short 
time and they lacked provisions and supplies, — above 
all, aninumition. Throughout the war there was scarc- 
ity of ammunition and the enemy's stores of powder 
and ball and firearms were the most welcome part of an 
American victory. During the first months, however, 
the Americans had more experience of defeat than of 
victory. 

In the spring of 1776 the Americans took possession 
of Dorchester Heights and the British evacuated Boston 
a few days later. When their fleet put to sea, Wash- 
ington marched across the country, hoping to keep 
them from landing in New York. But the enemy 
were too strong for him and they took possession of the 
city. 

Up to this time the patriots had been fighting for 
their rights as British colonists. July 4, 1776, the 
Declaration of Independence was adopted and the fight 
was now for freedom. Of this Washington said, 
" When I first took command of the army I abhorred 
the idea of independence, but I am fully convinced that 
nothing else will save us." 

At Cambridge Washington had used a flag with thir- 
teen stripes of red and white, and the red and white 
cross of the British flag in the corner; in 1777 Con- 
gress adopted as the national flag one with the stripes 



166 

but having, instead uf tlio British cross, thirteen stars 
to represent the thirteen colonies. 

As we said, the Americans were unable to prevent 
the British from landing in New York. Then the pa- 
triots were defeated in the battle of Long Island and 
Washington was forced to retreat. Pursued through 
Xew Jersey, he crossed the river into Pennsylvania, 
with about three thousand ragged, hungry, discouraged 
soldiers. It was now winter and it was supposed that 
the troops would go into winter quarters. But Wash- 
ington did not wish to give up the year's campaigTi with- 
out striking one successful blow. By a sudden marcli 
the day after Christmas, he surprised and captured a 
force of one thousand Hessians at Trenton and then he 
defeated an English force at Princeton. These vic- 
tories inspired hope and the patriots began the cam- 
paign of 1777 with renewed courage. 

But it Avas a year of reverses. The patriots were de- 
feated at Brandywine in September and at German- 
town in October and went into winter quarters at Valley 
Forge in December in a pitiable condition. They 
lacked clothing, food, military stores. The campaign 
in the north was more successful. At Saratoga Gen- 
eral Gates won a signal victory and Burgoyne was 
forced to surrender his army. It was this victory 
which led the French to declare in favor of the col- 
onists. 

There was formed a conspiracy to depose Washington 



167 

and to put at the Lead of the armj General Gates who 
had won the victory of the campaign. Congress, how- 
ever, supported Washington and collected men and sup- 
plies for a new campaign. The army was drilled in the 
winter of 1778 by Ba^on von Steuben, a Prussian officer 
who had served under Frederic the Great. 

In 1778 the British evacuated Philadelphia and 
Washington attacked them at Monmouth. Here he had 
a clash with General Charles Lee ; his temper, usually 
under control, rose at what he considered General Lee's 
failure to perform his duty. 

The little army marched north and encamped near 
White Plains. In this vicinity it remained during the 
year. During the campaign of 1779 also, Washington 
remained in the Highlands of the Hudson on the defen- 
sive. The next year came French aid. That same 
year the plot of General Arnold to surrender West 
Point to the English was discovered from papers in the 
possession of a captured spy. This spy, the brave 
young General Andre, paid the penalty with his life; 
the traitor Arnold escaped to the British. 

In 1781 brilliant victories were won at the south by 
General Greene, General Morgan and by Marion, called 
" the Swamp Fox." That same year Washington, aided 
by the French troops, invested Lord Cornwallis's men 
at Yorkto^^m, and forced them to surrender. 

A treaty of peace, made in September, 1783, ended 
the war which^ as Pitt saidj " was conceived in injus- 



168 

tice, nurtured in folly, and whose footsteps were marked 
with blood and devastation." In November the Brit- 
ish evacuated New York and on December the fourth 
Washington read his farewell address to the army. He 
resigned his commission to Congress, thinking that his 
remaining days were to be spent in private life at the 
home he loved. 

But his country needed him still. Victory had been 
won indeed, but the debt and burden of war remained. 
Congress with its limited delegated power was unable 
to settle matters, and there seemed danger that the col- 
onies, united in their struggle against British oppres- 
sion, would drift apart. Washington had won pub- 
lic confidence ; it was he who could best advance the 
work of peace. He presided over the Convention of 
1787 which framed a Constitution for the newly-estab- 
lished United States. This was adopted by the re- 
quired number of states and Washington was unani- 
mously chosen President of the United States. On 
April 30, 1789, he assumed the duties of the office in 
New York, which was the first seat of national gov- 
ernment. He entered upon the performance of his work 
as president with the conscientious attention which he 
gave to all matters. He aided to organize the different 
departments of the government and appointed as their 
heads the ablest men in the country — Hamilton, Jef- 
ferson, and others. He never openly allied himself 
with either the Federalist party led by Hamilton or the 



169 

Democratic-Republican party led by JefTerson, but 
strove for union and peace. 

After serving- eight years, he declined to be a candi- 
date a third time — thus establishing a precedent that 
no President shall serve a third term. In 1796 Wash- 
ington delivered a farewell address to the people he 
had led and served. He retired to private life, but did 
not live long to enjoy his well-earned rest. December 
14, 1799, he died and was buried at his home at Mount 
Vernon, The eulogj' pronounced on him by " Light 
Horse Harry " Lee well said that he was " First in w^ar, 
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, 
he was second to none in the humble and endearing 
scenes of private life." 

Philip Schuyler 

Philip Schuyler was a member of an old Dutch fam- 
ily in New York, which had extensive possessions on 
the river Hudson. Lender a French tutor, he received 
a better education than was usual in colonial days. 
He was an energetic manly lad, and early learned to 
ride and skate, to shoot and manage a boat. He grew 
up an intelligent man and a good woodsman, trained in 
the learning of the frontiers. 

His father died when he was eight years old ; Philip 
was the eldest son and when he attained his majority, 
according to the English custom he became master of 
his father's wealth. This did not accord with Schuy- 



170 

ler's Dutch ideas of justice nor with his native gener- 
osity ; he divided the property equally with his brothers 
and sisters. 

In the French and Indian war Schuyler, like Wash- 
ington and others, gained the military experience which 
was later to be so valuable to his country. In his 
subordinate position there came no opportunity for him 
to distinguish himself especially, but he served with 
credit and honor. A characteristic story is told of him 
on this campaign. The troops were crossing the Os- 
Avego river and as the boats were crowded a wounded 
prisoner was about to be left behind. Schuyler quietly 
put his gun and coat in a boat, took the prisoner on his 
back, swam across the stream, and put the wounded man 
in charge of a surgeon before he rejoined his company. 

It was largely through Schuyler's influence that 
New York joined Virginia and Massachusetts first in 
protesting and then in fighting against the oppressions 
of England. He was a delegate to the Continental Con- 
gress and was appointed by Congress a major-general — 
a place to Avhich he was entitled by his position and 
services and by his experience in the French and In- 
dian War. He was, however, unpopular from the first 
with Samuel Adams and the leaders of the New Eng- 
land party. They could not forget that he was of 
Dutch descent, and a native of the colony which had 
quarreled with New England about boundary lines. 

On the morning of June 21, 1775, George Wa-hing- 



171 

ton, Philip Sclniyler, and Charles Lee rode out of Phil- 
adelphia, going northward to the seat of war. Washing- 
ton was to assume command of the army at Cambridge 
and Schnylor was to take charge of the troops in jSTew 
York and load an expedition against Canada. The 
three horsemen had gone abont twenty miles when they 
met a courier bringing Congress tidings of the battle 
of Bunker Hill. 

" Did the militia stand fire ? " asked Washington 
eagerly. When informed that they did, he exclaimed, 
" The Liberties of the country are safe ! " 

During the ride to New York, Washington and 
Schuyler learned to know and esteem each other and 
the friendship begun then Avas never broken. 

The position of the state of ISTew York made its con- 
trol a matter of great importance. The little settle- 
ment — it was seventh in population of the sparsely- 
settled colonies — was midway between the northern 
and the southern colonies. If it were under British 
control, it would be a wedge to separate them. Philip 
Schuyler was stationed in the northern part of the 
province. Ilis illness made it necessary for Montgom- 
ery to take charge of the army sent against Quebec. 
As soon as Schuyler w^as able to move, he set to work to 
raise men and supplies, advancing his own funds for 
the purpose when those furnished by Congress proved 
pitifully inadequate. To the impatient and some- 
times irritated letters of the young patriot, Washington 



172 

sent words of encouragement and connsel, saying, " In 
a little time we shall work up these raw materials into a 
good manufacture. I must recommend to yon, what I 
endeavor to practice myself, patience and persever- 
ance." 

In the campaign of 1777 the British, now largely re- 
inforced, planned to occupy I^ew York and so to sepa- 
rate the northern and the southern colonies. General 
Burgoyne was to lead eight thousand men down Lake 
Champlain ; Colonel St. Leger was to go down the val- 
ley of the Mohawk from Oswego; and General Howe 
was to come np the Hudson. This force of thirty-three 
thousand men was to take possession of New York. 

At first it seemed as if the British were to succeed. 
They marched on Ticonderoga, " the door to Canada," 
which Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured 
in May, 1775. The British general determined to 
place his cannon on a rocky height commanding the fort. 
He was told that the height was inaccessible for cannon. 
" Where a goat can go, a man can go," he said ; " where 
a man can go, he can haul np a gun." The cannon 
was put in place and commanded the fort. St. Clair, 
seeing that it was useless to resist, abandoned the fort 
and withdrew through the woods to join Schuyler. At 
the news that Ticonderoga was taken King George 
rushed into the queen's room, exclaiming, " I have beat 
them ; I have beat all the Americans ! " 

It was impossible for the American forces to meet 



173 

Burgoyne's large, well-equipped army in open figbt. 
They fell back, destroying bridges, felling trees across 
tbe roads tbrongh the ravines and swamps ; the way was 
so obstructed that Burgoyne's army could march only 
about a mile a day. Each day's march took it further 
from its base of supplies and weakened its forces, while 
each day added numbers and strength to the patriots. 
An act of atrocity on the British side caused many to 
join the colonial army who had hesitated before. Some 
Indians from Burgoyne's army killed and scalped Jane 
McCrea, a beautiful young girl for whom they had been 
appointed guides. The colonists were indignant with 
the English for making common cause against their own 
countrymen with the savages. 

At Bennington a detachment of Burgoyne's anny was 
attacked by General Starke. " Before night we must 
conquer or Molly Starke is a widow," he cried, as he 
led his men to victory. An English force of about two 
thousand men marched up the Mohawk and attacked 
Eort Stanwix, or Schuyler, at the head of the river. 
The men in the fort prepared to resist to the last. They 
cut up their shirts and cloaks to make a flag, the Stars 
and Stripes, wdiich they raised with cheers. General 
Herkimer gathered the militia and went to their rescue. 
On the way the militia was attacked and General Her- 
kimer's leg was shattered by a bullet. Refusing to be 
borne from the field, he sat puffing at his pipe and 
calmly directing his troops. In this battle of Oriskany 



174 

both sides sustained severe losses. The British advance 
was cheeked but they continued to besiege Fort Schuyler. 

General Schuyler called a council of war and sug- 
gested the sending of reinforcements to the fort but the 
officers objected to thus weakening the army which 
would have to oppose Burgoyne. Schuyler was unwill- 
ing to leave the brave men to their fate. " Gentlemen," 
he said, " I shall take the responsibility upon myself. 
Where is the brigadier that will take command of the 
relief? I shall beat up for volunteers to-morrow." 

Arnold, ever ready for a daring deed, offered to take 
charge of the expedition. On the way he seized two To- 
ries and sent them to the British army to announce that 
large patriot forces were advancing. The Indian allies 
were already discontented. At this tidings they de- 
serted, and the British force broke up and retreated 
without striking a blow. 

As affairs were in this favorable condition, General 
Schuyler was superseded in command. He had been 
blamed for the surrender of Ticonderoga and the Xew 
England delegates, disliking him from the first, lent a 
ready ear to the charges against him. Congress asked 
Washington to appoint his successor, but the com- 
mander-in-chief refused to countenance the act of in- 
justice, and Congress appointed Gates. Schuyler had 
borne the heat and burden of the campaign ; now he had 
to look on while the rewards of victory went to Gates. 



175 

Sclmyler accepted the situation in a noble and patri- 
otic spirit. " I am far from insensible of the indignity 
of being- ordered from the command of the army at a 
time when an engagement mnst soon take place," he 
wrote to President Hancock. '' It, however, gives me 
great consolation that I shall have an opportunity of 
evincing that my conduct has been such as deserved the 
thanks of my country." 

After the two battles of Saratoga the British were 
forced to retreat. They were hemmed in by the Amer- 
ican troops and, October 17, 1777, Burgoyne and his 
army of five or six thousand men surrendered to Gates. 
It was this victory, you remember, which led France to 
declare for the colonists. 

After the battle of Saratoga, Schuyler treated the 
prisoners with great consideration, especially the women 
and children. He courteously entertained General 
Burgo_\me, who had had his house burned and his estate 
laid waste. 

" Is it to me who have done you so much iujury that 
you show^ so much kindness ? " asked Burgoyne. 

" That is the fate of war ; let us say no more about 
it," was the answer. 

Later on, Schuyler insisted upon a court martial to 
investigate his conduct ; it acquitted him, and Congress 
approved the verdict " with the highest honor." Wash- 
ington wished him to resume command but he refused. 



176 

However, lie served bis country ably in Congress and in 
tbe Senate of bis native state. He died in November, 
1804. 

Nathanael Greene 

As a general J^atbanael Greene ranks next to Wasb- 
ington in tbe esteem of tbe American people. His f atber 
was a Quaker clergyman wbo lived in Ebode Island. 
ISTatbanael as a boy worked on tlie farm, at tbe black- 
smitb's forge, and in a grist mill. He generally bad a 
book at band and spent bis leisure minutes in study; 
bv bis own exertions, witbout ever bavins: mucb scbool- 
ing, be became a well-educated man. ISTo one would 
bave imagined tbat tbis bard-working young Quaker, 
in bis drab clotbes and broad-brimmed bat, was to be- 
come a fearless leader of tbe patriot bands. 

He was a young man wben tbe Revolution began. 
He became convinced tbat tbe battle-field must decide 
tbe cause of tbe colonists, and, despite tbe Quaker views 
in wbicb be bad been trained, be wisbed to join tbe 
figbt for freedom. As soon as be beard of tbe battles 
of Lexington and Concord, be started to Boston to 
take tbe part of bis oppressed countrymen. Wben tbe 
Continental army was organized, Rbode Island voted to 
raise sixteen bundred men to be commanded by Greene. 

For four years be served in tbe nortb, winning tbe 
esteem and confidence of Wasbington. He was witb 
Wasbington in tbe retreat tbrougb New Jersey and 



117 

aided in the brilliant attacks at Trenton and Princeton. 
In the battle of Brandywine he saved the day. His 
troops Avere stationed in the rear; as the retreating 
forces fell back, at Greene's command the ranks opened 
and let them pass, then closed again. Tims he kept his 
troops formed in line of battle and held the British 
army in check, till night came ; then he withdrew to the 
main army. In the battle of Germantown, too, Greene 
bore a brave part, and by his courage and endurance he 
cheered Washington during the dark days at Valley 
Forge. 

During the first years of the war the north was the 
battle field. The south was almost unmolested except 
for the attack in 1776 on Fort Moultrie which was gal- 
lantly defended. In December, 1778, however. Gen- 
eral Clinton sent thirty-five hundred men by sea from 
K^ew York ; these troops easily captured Savannah 
which was defended by only six hundred men. The 
British forces made themselves masters of the country 
defended only by scattered bands of patriots. In the 
spring of 1780, Clinton himself with eight thousand 
men went by sea to Charleston and captured the city. 
Leaving Cornwallis to complete the conquest of the 
South, Clinton returned to the north. It seemed as 
if the southern colonies were to be torn from the pa- 
triots. 

In this emergency General Gates was sent to take 
command in the south. By overcoming Burgoyne with 



178 

tlie army prepared by Schuyler and led by Morgan and 
Arnold, he had won fame and popularity, and was re- 
garded as equal or superior to Washington. He was 
defeated at Camden by Cornwallis with a smaller force. 
Gates led the retreat, or stampede, of the militia, while 
a brave German, De Kalb, with one-third of the army 
stood at bay against the whole British army and met an 
honorable death. " We look on America as at our 
feet," said an English statesman when the news of this 
battle was received in England. 

But it was a general not a people which the English 
had defeated. The brave settlers on the frontier ral- 
lied in their own defense. In October, 1780, they sur- 
rounded Ferguson's troops at King's Mountain, cap- 
tured or hilled the entire force, and disbanded before 
the English could attack them. " A numerous army 
appeared on the frontier drawn from Nolachucky and 
other settlements beyond the mountains whose very 
names had been unknown to us," wrote Lord Rawdon. 

Two months later, December, 1780, a general was 
sent to the southern colonies who was worthy of the 
troops he was to command. This was Greene. The 
outlook was not promising. Without provisions, mili- 
tary stores, or clothing, and lacking means to provide 
them, Greene took charge of an army of about two thou- 
sand stanang, ragged men. Opposed to him were well- 
disciplined, well-provisioned troops. But his brave sol- 
diers were connnanded bv such men as William Wash- 



1V9 

ington, Morgan, " Light Horse Harry " Lee, Marion, 
and Siiinpter. The patriots were cheered by the vic- 
tory of Cowpens, won by Morgan's men, January IT, 
1781, over the bold and savage Tarleton. 

Greene was not able to withstand the large and well- 
equipped British army; as Cornwallis approached, he 
fell back, going northward. By looking at a map, you 
can see the position of the troops. Behind them were 
three rivers, the Catawba, the Yadkin, and the Dan. 
The patriots' effort was to keep a river between them 
and their enemy; the British endeavor was to overtake 
the little American army between two rivers, where it 
would be easy to destroy it. The march became a race 
for the rivers. Cornwallis destroyed the baggage of the 
army, beginning with his ovm. personal luggage, and his 
men marched as light infantry. The patriots hurried 
on through the mud and rain, over the snow and frozen 
roads ; for them it was a march for life and death ; the 
men were allowed three hours' sleep and they had but 
one meal a day. They pressed on, crossed the Catawba 
in safety, and in safety crossed the Yadkin ; unless they 
were overtaken before they reached the Dan, they would 
be safe. Cornwallis thought that they would seek the 
fords of the Dan and he marched in that direction ; 
Greene, however, hurried toward a ford where boats were 
collected and the army crossed the river. After a vain 
march of two hundred and fifty miles, in which his 
losses had been greater than in battle, Cornwallis was 



180 

compelled to retrace his steps. He said of his oppo- 
nent : " Greene is as dangerous as Washington, — he is 
vigilant, enterprising, and fnll of resonrces." 

Greene received reinforcements ; though most of 
them were raw and untrained men, he knew that a 
battle must be risked while his ranks were full. He 
marched back to Guilford Court House, where a battle 
was fought, March, 1781. The raw troops were not 
able to withstand the attack of the British regulars, and 
the 25atriots were defeated. Though defeated, Greene 
remained in control of much of iSTorth Carolina ; Corn- 
wallis went northward, entered Virginia, and advanced 
to his fate at Yorktow^n. Greene's troops were at- 
tacked at Hobkirk's Hill, April, 1781, and defeated 
by Lord Rawdon who had succeeded Cornwallis in 
command. The men deserted the guns and it was not 
imtil Greene himself rushed forward and seized the 
ropes that the men rallied to drag off the precious ar- 
tillery. 

That fall, in the fiercely-contested battle of Eutaw 
Springs, Greene held his own. Though he won few 
decisive victories in pitched battle against the British 
regulars, he gradually drove the enemy from Georgia 
and the Carolinas, till only a few fortified towns were 
left in their control. Greene drew his lines closer and 
closer around Charleston and at last the British were 
forced to evacuate the city. This really ended the 
war in the south. 



181 

When peac^ was declared in 1783, Greene returned 
to his home in Ehode Island. Two years later, he 
went to Georgia to make his home on an estate there 
which was presented to him as a reward for his gallant 
services. He did not long survive to enjoy his well-won 
fame, dying in June, 1786. 

John Paul Jones 

Our First Naval Hero 

The American army during the Revolution was, for 
the most part, led by native Americans ; the officers of 
English birth were for one reason and another less 
popular and less successful than the Americans. This, 
however, was not the case with the American navy, 
created and manned to meet the exigency of the time. 
The twenty-six vessels did valiant service, capturing 
during the first two years of the Avar eight hundred 
merchantmen and gaining many brilliant victories. 
The man whose achievements shed most luster upon 
it was a Briton, 

John Paul, known tO' us as Paul Jones, was the 
son of a Scotch gardener. In childhood he showed a 
love for the sea and he became a sailor when he was 
twelve years old. One of his first long voyages was on 
a ship which came to Virginia for a cargo of tobacco. 
He studied naval history and tactics, though he re- 
mained in the merchant-service. There he rose in 



182 

rank, nntil he became captain of a trading-vessel. 
When he was abont twenty-five, his brother, who had 
settled in Virginia, died and John Paul, for bj 
this name he was still known, took charge of his 
estate. He does not seem to have been a successful 
farmer, and he led an uneventful life until the Revolu- 
tion began. Then he offered his services to Congress. 
We do not know why he cast his lot with his adopted 
country instead of his native one, but he gave it faith- 
ful and brilliant service, without pay or allowance. 

From this time, however, he dropped his real name 
of John Paul and chose to be known as John Paul Jones 
— perhaps because he did not wish his friends and 
countrymen to know that he was aiding the " rebel " 
cause. 

He was at first appointed to a subordinate position. 
In the early part of 1776 the first American squadron, 
with Paul Jf»nes first lieutenant on one of its vessels, 
the Alfred, sailed to the Bahama Islands. Its mis- 
sion w^as to take the military supplies so needed by 
the Americans from the forts on ^ew Providence. The 
Americans were unable to enter the harbor, and the 
expedition would have been a failure but for Paul 
Jones. He had been informed that there was a good 
landing near the harbor, and he undertook to guide 
the Alfred to it. He did so and the other ships fol- 
lowed. They seized the military stores, including a 
hundred cannon, and sailed back to America. 



183 

Soon after this Paul Jones was given charge of a 
little sloop and sent to sea on a six weeks' cruise. He 
had encounters with several English frigates and on 
more than one occasion his vessel was saved only by 
his courage and seamanship. At the end of his cruise 
he returned to Newport with sixty-six prizes. The 
gallant and successful captain was deprived of com- 
mand by a jealous superior officer and for several 
months he was without a ship. He repeatedly asked 
Congress for a ship and he requested that it might 
be a good one, " for I intend to go in harm's way," 
he said — and he generally carried out his intention. 

While on shore Jones gave Congress valuable ad- 
vice about fitting out a navy. He recommended that 
" 1. Every officer should be examined before he re- 
ceives his commission. 2. The ranks in a navy should 
correspond to those in an anny. 3. As England has 
the best navy in the world, we should copy hers." 

In June, 1777, he was put in command of the 
Eanger and over this he hoisted, for the first time on 
the seas, the American flag, the Stars and Stripes, 
lately adopted by Congress. He thought that the 
most effective way to wage war was to "^ carry it into 
the enemy's countiy." Accordingly he went to White- 
haven on the English coast, where nearly three hun- 
dred vessels were in harbor. He took his men ashore 
in two boats and ordered them to set fire to the ships, 
while he surprised the two batteries and the fort and 



18-i 

spiked their cannon. When he returned to the harbor, 
he found that his orders had been disobeyed, — not one 
ship had been fired. It was now day and the people 
were aroused, but Paul Jones was unwilling to go 
without carrying out a part of his plan and with his 
own hand he set fire to the largest ship. 

The English made many attempts to seize the doer 
of this daring deed, and at one time there were forty- 
two British ships on the waters seeking to capture 
the bold rover. One of the ships which set out to cap- 
ture the Eanger was the Drake. Jones met it in 
battle and defeated and captured the English vessel 
which had more guns and better-trained and better- 
equipped men than his. 

The Kanger was recalled to defend the coast of Amer- 
ica, and for months Paul Jones w^as in France without 
a ship. At last he was given an old trading-vessel 
fitted out as a war-ship. He called it Bon Homme 
Richard, the Erench name for Poor Richard in honor 
of his friend Franklin's Poor Richard of the almanac. 
In September, 1770, Commodore Jones sailed toward 
the English coast with four small vessels. There he 
met two large English war-ships that were convoying, 
or accompanying, a fleet of forty merchant-vessels. 
The merchant-vessels took refuge on the English coast, 
and the war-ships advanced to fight. The shots of the 
English ship, the Serapis, inflicted so much injury on 
the Richard that Captain Pearson of tlie Serapis 



185 

thought it was sinking- and asked the American com- 
mander, " Has your ship struck ? " 

" I have not yet begim to fight," was Jones's stern 
reply. 

He had the two vessels lashed together. Then, with 
his own hands helping to work the guns, he directed 
the fight with dauntless resolution. His ship was rid- 
dled with shot and on fire; still he refused to yield; 
when the vessel seemed sinking, he drove his prisoners 
to the pumps and made them work for life itself. One 
of his ships, instead of coming to his aid, fired on 
him. His situation seemed desperate. Captain Pear- 
son called again to know if he had struck and he an- 
swered, ' JSTo, — that if he could do no better he would 
sink with his colors flying.' 

After a deadly combat of three-and-a-half hours, 
in which the Serapis and the Richard literally " shot 
each other to pieces," the Serapis had to yield. The 
king conferred on Captain Pearson the honor of knight- 
hood as a reward for his brave, though unsuccessful, 
fight. When Jones heard of this he said that if ever 
he met Pearson at sea again he would make a lord of 
him. After the Revolution in which he sensed Amer- 
ica so bravely and ably, Jones made his home in France. 
There in 1792 ended his adventurous life in which he 
had, as he said, " twenty-three battles and solemn 
rencounters by sea," 



186 

Thomas Jefferson 

The Autlior of the Declaration of Independence 

]^ot all the work of securing American independ- 
ence was done by the able generals and the brave sol- 
diers. The patriot canse in the Revolution owed 
much to men who never served in the army. One 
of these was Franklin, Avho secured for the colonies 
aid and recognition from France. Another was 
Thomas Jefferson, called " the pen of the Revolution," 
who wrote the Declaration of Independence. 

Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia, in 1743 ; 
his father, a wealthy country gentleman, died when 
Thomas was about fourteen years old. The country 
boy divided his time between books and outdoor sports, 
and his mind was well-trained and his slender frame 
was as active and as tireless as an Indian's. Then at 
seventeen he rode off to Williamsburg to enter William 
and Mary College. 

At Williamsburg was formed the friendship with 
Patrick Henry which continued till after the Revolu- 
tion; it was bTok(>n by differences in political opin- 
ions. It was on a flyleaf of one of Thomas Jefferson's 
law books that Henry wrote his " resolutions." Jef- 
ferson was one of the audience that listened entranced 
to the eloquent speech against the Stamp Act. When 
Jefferson was twenty-four, he was admitted to prac- 
tice law at Williamsburg. He became an able and 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 



187 

successful lawyer, though he had a weak voice and 
was never a pleasing speaker. In 1775 Jefferson heard 
Patrick Henry's eloquent appeal to the people to arm 
for the inevitable conflict ; Jefferson, Washington, and 
others were appointed to form plans to put Virginia on 
a military basis. 

Jefferson, who had already won reputation as author 
and scholar, was sent to Philadelphia to the Continental 
Congress. Though one of the youngest of its mem- 
bers, he was appointed to draft the Declaration of In- 
dependence. The paper was accepted and adopted in 
form slightly changed from that in which he presented 
it. The delegates who signed it well knew that they 
were signing their death warrants if the Revolution 
should prove a failure and they should fall into King 
George's hands. 

Hancock, the president of the Congress, said that 
the members must all hang together. 

" Yes," said Franklin, " we must hang together or 
we shall all hang separately." 

Four days later, the Declaration was read publicly, 
and its proclamation w^as received with enthusiasm 
throughout the colonies. 

Jefferson was one of the five men that the Assembly 
selected to revise the Virginia laws ; upon him de- 
volved most of the work. It Avas due to him that 
severe laws were passed against dueling, and that there 
was repealed the old English law by which the eldest 



188 

son inherited the father's estate. For nine years he 
and other enlightened men fonglit for the repeal of the 
old intolerant laws about religion, and the passing of 
a statute securing religious liberty. Finally, all the 
old laws about tithes, compulsory worship, etc., were 
struck out and in their j)lace was substituted this statute 
written by Jefferson: 

" No man shall be compelled to frequent or support 
any religious worship, ministry, or place whatsoever; 
nor shall he be enforced, restrained, molested or hin- 
dered in his body or his goods ; nor shall he other- 
wise suffer on account of his religious opinions or be- 
liefs ; but all men shall be free to profess and by argu- 
ment to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion ; 
and the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or 
affect their civil capacities." We accept this as a 
matter of course, but in that day it was a great step 
forward. 

Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia, but he 
resigned in 1781, feeling that in the emergency of the 
time the government could best be administered by hav- 
ing civil and military powder in the same hands. He 
was asked by Congress to go with Franklin to France 
as ambassador but he refused because his wife w^as 
ill. After her death, two years later, he went as min- 
ister to France. ISTo other American ambassador was 
ever so popular as Franklin, but Jefferson w^as liked 
and respected. 



180 

'^ You replace Dr, Franklin," said a Frcnclmian. 

" I merely sncceed him ; no one could replace him/' 
was the prompt reply. 

Jefferson, like Franklin, was a many-sided man. 
The famous author of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the scholar versed in the Greek, Latin, French, 
Italian, and Spanish languages, took a keen interest in 
practical matters and applied science. Under great 
difficulties, he procured some of the best rice of Italy 
and sent it to South Carolina ; from this handful came 
the great rice crops produced in that state. From 
Europe Franklin sent to the United States the first 
announcement of Watt's steam engine which he went 
from Paris to London to see. He wrote hack that 
by it " a peck and a half of coal performs as much 
work as a horse in a day." Jefferson himself had 
inventive talent ; among his other inventions was a plow 
superior to any then in use, which in 1790 received 
a gold medal in France. He became the third presi- 
dent of the American Philosophical Society of which 
Franklin was the first president. 

Jefferson returned to America in 1789 and served 
as Secretary of State under Washington. He had 
succeeded in getting our present coinage system 
adopted, urging successfully a decimal system to re- 
place that of England which many people wished to 
retain. He tried to have introduced a system of meas- 
ures founded on the same decimal plan, but in this 



190 

he did not succeed. While he was Secretary of State 
the mint in Philadelphia was established by his ad- 
vice; till then American money had been coined in 
Europe. 

In 1793 Jefferson resigned the office of Secretary of 
State and returned to his beloved home, Monticello, 
one of the handsomest country seats in Virginia. His 
overseer said that in the twenty years he lived at 
Monticello, he saw Jefferson sitting unemployed only 
twice — both times he was too unwell to work. " At 
all other times he was either reading, writing, talk- 
ing, working upon some model, or doing something 
else." Once Jefferson's little grandsons wdiom he 
urged to " learn " and " labor " replied that they would 
not need to work because they would be rich. He 
answered, " Ah, those that expect to get through the 
world without industry, because they are rich, will be 
greatly mistaken. The people that do the work will 
soon get possession of all their property." 

One of his grandsons tells another incident of these 
days : " On riding out with him when a lad we met 
a negro who bowed to us ; he returned his bow, I 
did not. Turning to me he asked, ' Do you pennit 
a negro to be more of a gentleman than yourself ? ' " 

The country did not permit Jefferson to remain long 
in retirement. He was elected Vice President in 
1796 and President in 1801. He represented the 
party of the people ; this was opposed to the Federalist 



101 

party led by Hamiltou which was in favor of a cen- 
tralized government. The party led by Jefferson was 
called, first Eepnblican, then Democratic-Ecpnbliean, 
then Democratic — to express the idea that the power 
belonged to the people. Scholar and aristocrat as Jef- 
ferson was, he had confidence in the " government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people," as a 
man of the people expressed it later. Thronghont Jef- 
ferson's life this was his main idea, and the one for 
which he always worked. 

Dnring his first administration he rendered a great 
ser^'ice to the country; being instrumental in 1803 in 
purchasing from France for fifteen million dollars the 
Louisiana territory. This territory included not only 
Louisiana but the territory extending to Puget Sound. 
In a message to Congress, Jefferson asked for money 
to send an expedition to explore this great country 
and he selected two brave and hardy frontiersmen to 
lead it. Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clarke. They 
spent two and a half years on the expedition and 
brought back information about the country and speci- 
mens of its products. 

After he had served his country twice as president, 
Jefferson retired to his home at Monticello and there 
spent his old age, still occupied with schemes for the 
public welfare. He believed in America for Ameri- 
cans. In a letter to President ]\Ionroe he said, " Our 
first and fundamental maxim should 1)0 never to en- 



192 

tangle ourselves in the broils of Enropo. Our seeoiul 
never to suffer Europe to intermeddle with Cis-Atlantic 
affairs." 

He planned an educational system for Virginia 
whicli included a comprehensive free school system, 
and a university. lie gave years of thought and study 
to planning the building, government, and course of 
study of this imiversity. In 1818 the state legisla- 
ture made a grant to establish the University of Vir- 
ginia. 

Jefferson gave practically his whole life to the serv- 
ice of his country. He was in office thirty-nine years, 
and spent more than twenty years revising the Vir- 
ginia Statutes and laboring to establish the University 
of Virginia. Thus, he said, his public services oc- 
cupied over sixty years. During this time, his private 
affairs were neglected. From wealth in youth, he was 
reduced in old age to straitened circumstances. lie 
sold his library, thirteen thousand volumes, to Con- 
gress for $23,950, about one-half of its auction value, 
and the money went to his creditors. 

In the summer of 1826 Jefferson was taken ill. At 
midnight July the third, he w^as heard to murmur, 
" This is the fourth of July." About midday he died, 
■fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was 
adopted. On the same day in Massachusetts was dy- 
ing John Adams who had helped in the fight for the 
people's rights. During his last hours, his thoughts 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



103 

turned to his great associate and he said, " Thomas 
Jefferson still lives," 

On Jefferson's tombstone were recorded as he had 
requested --- not the offices he had held nor the honors 
he had received — but the three things by which he 
wished to be remembered, — that he wrote the Declara- 
tion 6f Independence, the Virginia Statute for religious 
liberty, and founded the University of Virginia. 

Alexander Hamilton 

The Founder of the Federalist Party 

The Democratic-Republican party which believed in 
the " power of the masses " and the rule of the people 
was founded by Thomas Jefferson. The Federalist 
party, which believed in a centralized government pat- 
terned on the aristocratic one of England, was founded 
by Alexander Hamilton. Little is known about the 
family and early life of Hamilton. He was born in 
the little West India island of Nevis in January, 1757. 
His father is supposed to have been a Scotch trader 
and his mother a Frenchwoman. His family was 
poor, and it was necessary for him to leave school 
in childhood and set to work. At the age of twelve, 
he became a clerk in a counting-house where he re- 
mained about three years. Every spare moment was 
spent in the study of mathematics, chemistry, aud his- 
tory. He was so faithful in his work, however, that 



194 

at tlie age of thirteen or fourteen he was left in charge 
of business during his employer's absence. 

In 1772 the island of Santa Cruz was visited by a 
terrible hurricane ; young Hamilton wrote such a vivid 
and eloquent account of it that his friends thought he 
ought to become a professional man and offered to help 
him continue his education. Accordingly, in October, 
1772, he set sail to the colonies. Leaving the West 
Indies, he cut loose from his old life ; of friends and 
relatives there, almost nothing is heard after this time. 
Young ?Iamilton attended a grammar school in New 
Jersey, and then entered King's College, now Columbia 
University, in Xew York. The young West Indian 
came to America at a time when people were greatly 
excited about political matters, and he heard much 
about the Stamp Act and the oppressive taxes laid by 
Great Britain. At first he took the part of the king, 
but in less than two years he had become an enthu- 
siastic patriot. It was the cause of the colonies as a 
whole that appealed to him. He never developed any 
of the feeling for the separate colonies which was so 
strong in most native-born Americans. 

When he espoused the cause of the oppressed colonies, 
he did it with his whole heart. The precocious, clever 
boy of seventeen made patriotic addresses, and pub- 
lished an able pamphlet, entitled, " A Full Vindica- 
tion of the Measures of Congress from the Calumnies 
of their Enemies " (1774). In this pamphlet he stated 



195 

the case of the colonies clearly and eloqnently. He 
said, "■ All men have one common origin ; they partici- 
pate in one common nature, and consequently have one 
common right. No reason can be advanced why one man 
should exercise any power or preeminence over his fel- 
low-creatures, unless they have voluntarily vested him 
with it. Since then, Americans have not by any act of 
their owti empowered the British Parliament to make 
laws for them, it follows that they can have no just au- 
thority to do it." 

Hamilton believed in the enforcement of law and 
order. On one or two occasions, when mobs had set out 
to attack royalists' houses, he persuaded them to re- 
spect private property and opinions. 

The opinions that young Hamilton upheld with pen 
he was ready to uphold with sword. In 1776, when 
he was only nineteen, he was put in charge of a com- 
jDany of artillery which he drilled so well that he won 
the commendation and friendship first of General 
Greene and later of General Washington. During 
the retreat through New Jersey, he managed his com- 
pany with courage and skill, and he fought bravely 
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. In 1777 he 
became one of Washington's " official family," being 
made his confidential secretary. Washington was very 
fond of the clever young man whom he often adressed 
as " my boy." Hamilton's ability, too, was recognized 
and in 1777 he was entrusted with a delicate and 



196 

Important mission. This was to get reinforcements 
for Washington's hard-pressed army from Gates's snc- 
cessfiil forces. As superior officer, Washington conld 
have ordered the troops sent to his relief, but for many 
reasons it was best to have them sent on Gates's own 
accord, if possible. Therefore, Washington gave Ham- 
ilton a sealed order of command to Gates, instructing 
him not to deliver it if without doing so he could per- 
suade the general to send the troops. Hamilton 
brought back the troops and he also brought back the 
unopened letter. It was while he was in New York 
on this errand that he met General Schuyler's daughter 
whom he married in 1780. 

Hamilton did not remain in the commander-in-chief's 
official family. On one occasion he failed to answer 
a summons promptly ; General Washington, who was 
a strict disciplinarian, said, " Colonel Hamilton, you 
have kept me waiting for you these ten minutes. I 
must tell you, sir, that you treat me with disrespect." 
The hot-tempered youth replied, " I am not conscious 
of it, sir, but since you have thought it necessary to 
tell me so, we part." 

" Very well, sir, if that is your choice," answered 
the general. 

Washington was willing to overlook the occurrence, 
but Hamilton was desirous to return to active service. 
At Yorktown he led a gallant attack against a British 
redoubt which he took in ten minutes. 



197 

After the Eevolution, he read law four months and 
then began to practice in Albany. He put aside pro- 
fessional work to serve his adopted country again. 
This time in Congress. The colonies which had nnited 
in their war of defence now seemed drifting apart and 
the general government had no power to hold them to- 
gether. The country was in debt and had neither 
money nor credit. The states, therefore, sent repre- 
sentatives to Philadelphia in 1787 to form a Constitu- 
tion to take the place of the Articles of Confederation. 

Hamilton was one of these delegates. He ar- 
gued in favor of a strong central government, ruled by 
a president, congress, and supreme court ; he thought 
that practically all power should be put in the hands 
of the general government, and that the governors of 
states should be appointed by it and should have veto 
power over state legislation. To him an American 
state was a mere geographical division, like an English 
county. Most of the people, however, clung to the 
independence of the separate states, and there w^as 
heated discussion as to what rights should be delegated 
to the general government and what should be reserved 
by the states. At last a constitution was drawn up, 
in favor of which Congress voted. It was decided thai: 
this constitution should go into effect as soon as it should 
be ratified by nine states. As yet the states " had 
given up none of their rights to the general govern- 
ment." 



198' 

In order to present the views in favor of this con- 
stitution and to secure its adoption, Hamilton, with 
some assistance from Madison and Jay, published a 
series of eighty-five papers called " The Federalist." 
The constitution was adopted, and George Washington 
was elected first President. When he formed his Cab- 
inet he made Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the 
Treasury. It was felt that this young man of thirty- 
tw^o could do more than any one else to establish the 
finances of the country on a safe basis. He made a 
report " On the Public Credit " Avhich " laid the corner- 
stone of American finance under the constitution." 

He insisted that the credit of the United States should 
be firmly established and the United States should as- 
sume the war debt of fifty-four million dollars ; to se- 
cure the payment of this a national bank was estab- 
lished. Hamilton suggested ways in which money 
might be raised by taxing wdiiskey and imported ar- 
ticles and by the use of public lands, the Northwest 
Territory ceded by Virginia, and the western lands 
ceded by Maryland, l^ew York, Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. 

After some opposition Hamilton's plan was adopted 
and the finances of the country were established on a 
safe basis. An insurrection called the Whiskey Rebel- 
lion was raised in Pennsylvania by people who were 
unwilling to pay the tax on liquor, and Hamilton went 
with troops who suppressed it. 



199 

Jefferson and others argued that under this con- 
stitution the general government had no power to es- 
tablish a national bank. Hamilton brought forward 
the view, which he was the first to advance, that Con- 
gress had " implied " powers as w^ell as " delegated " 
ones. One of his chief motives in urging national 
banks was that he felt thej would be a " powerful 
cement of union," uniting the business interests of the 
country in the support of the government. It was 
Hamilton, then, who originated the " protective tariff " 
and '' national banks," over which political parties are 
still contending. 

In 1795 after his national policies were adopted, 
Hamilton resigned public life and began to practice 
his profession in Xew York. He put aside his bril- 
liant and profitable professional work, however, when 
war with France seemed imminent, in order to assist 
Washington in his plans for the organization of the 
ariuY. When the war-cloud passed he resumed the 
practice of his profession. But his brilliant life was 
to come to an early and untimely end. In his political 
life he made many antagonists. One of these was 
Aaron Burr, as brilliant and hot-tempered as Hamilton, 
and a man of bold and dangerous ambition. 

After a political quarrel. Burr challenged Hamilton 
to fight a duel. In theory Hamilton recognized the sin 
and folly of dueling, but he was not willing to refuse to 
fight for fear people would think be was a coward, 



200 

Early one morning, July 11, 1804, the two rivals met in 
a quiet spot. Hamilton fired into the air, as he had 
said he would do ; Burr with deadly skill aimed straight 
at his opponent who fell fatally wounded. Hamilton 
left his mourning country the record of a brilliant 
public career, the main purpose of which was to 
strengthen the general government and to consolidate 
the Union. 

Daniel Boone 

The Pioneer of Kentucky 

During colonial days, the English settlers occupied 
the land east of the Alleghany Mountains. Except on 
expeditions of war or explorations and adventure, they 
did not cross the mountains to the west. During the 
latter part of the eighteenth century, the first pioneer 
went westward to settle, taking with him his wife and 
daughter, the first white women to make their homes 
in the western land. This pioneer was Daniel Boone. 
He was born in Pennsylvania in 1735, and so was 
three years younger than George Washington. 

Boone's father moved to North Carolina in 1752 and 
there Daniel grew to manhood. His school days were 
brief and his book-learning was limited. There was 
standing many years a tree on which was carved in 
rude letters, " D. Boon Cilled A Bar on this tree year 
17G0." But he was expert in the homely, hardy work 



201 

of the frontier, and in woodcraft; familiar witli the 
life and habits of the wild things of the wood; a sure 
qnick shot, a fearless and self-reliant youth. One who 
knew him later says he was " honest of heart and lib- 
eral — in short, one of nature's noblemen. He abhor- 
red a mean action and delighted in honesty and truth. 
He never delighted in the shedding of human blood, 
even that of his enemies in war. His remarkable 
quality was an unwavering and invincible fortitude." 

Boone was an expert hunter and traj^per. Like 
many American frontiersmen, he wore a dress resem- 
bling that of the Indians, — a buckskin hunting shirt 
with fringed buckskin leggings and moccasins of deer- 
skin or buffalo-hide. His inseparable companion was 
his long-barrelled rifle. 

He went as a wagoner on Braddock's ill-fated expe- 
dition and barely escaped with his life. 

The country west of the mountains had been visited 
and explored by several men and parties. Gist, who 
accompanied Washington on his mission to the French 
forts, was one of these early explorers. Another was 
John Finley who traded with the Indians on the Red 
Eiver of Kentucky. He told Boone about the fertile 
soil, the abundant game, and the " salt licks " of the 
"western lands. 

After a short hunting trip on the borders, Boone 
started out, in May, 1769, to explore " the far-famed 
but little-known land of Kentucky." He started with 



202 

five companions and he spent two years roaming over 
the country. The white men were attacked by Indians 
in the fall of 17G9 and Boone and Stewart were cap- 
tured. A week later they made their escape, but 
were unable to find their friends. Not long after, 
Boone's brother and another frontiersman joined them 
with a welcome supply of powder and lead. 

Their companions were killed by the Indians, and 
the Boone brothers spent some months in the wilder- 
ness in a cabin which they built of poles and bark. 
For some reason his brother went home, and Daniel 
Boone remained for months alone, the only white man 
in that wilderness which was the battle-ground of 
northern and southern Indians. 'Not even a dog was 
there to keep him company, and as food, he had only 
what his rifle and fishing-rod could secure. 

Undaunted by loneliness or wildness, by lurking 
beast or hostile savages, Boone determined to bring 
his family to this fair and fertile land. He felt that 
he had a work to do, " God had appointed him an in- 
strument for the settlement of the wilderness." Sev- 
eral families set out Avith the Boone brothers, driving 
their cattle and conveying their household goods in 
wagons. They were attacked by Indians and the oth- 
ers became so discouraged that they turned back. 

Boone, however, was undaunted. In 1775, as agent 
of a ISTorth Carolina company, he founded Boones- 
borough, a stockade or station near a salt lick on the 



203 

Kentiickv River. Tliis was near the present site of 
Frankfort. Tliitlier came his wife and dang'hter, the 
first women pioneers in Kentucky. The Indians strove 
to drive back the white men from their hunting- 
grounds, and this fort became the center of savage and 
relentless warfare. 

At one time three little girls, one of whom was 
Boone's daughter, were captured by the Indians. The 
settlers marched to rescue them, and did so, it is said, 
after a long journey and a fierce struggle in which 
Boone and a companion were captured. 

In 1778, Boone with a small part}' of men left the 
settlement to get a supply of salt. They were sur- 
rounded by a large band of Indians and can'ied north. 
Boone was taken as far as the present site of Detroit. 
He remained with the savages several months without 
having an opportunity to let his family know his fate. 
Learning that the Indian warriors were preparing to 
attack the Kentucky settlements, he managed to escape 
and made his way two hundred miles southward, 
through the wilderness swanning with enemies, in time 
to warn the settlements and to help defend Boones- 
borough against attack. His family, thinking him 
dead, had returned to Xorth Carolina. He followed 
tliem and returned Avitli them to his chosen home a few 
months later. 

For years there was almost constant warfare against 
the Indians in the " Dark and Bloody Ground," as 



204' 

Kentucky was well called. It is said within seven 
years — from 1783 to 1790 — fifteen hundred whites 
were killed or taken captive in Kentucky. 

In 1792 Kentucky, which had been a county of Vir- 
ginia, was made a state ; at this time Boone's title to 
his land was found defective. In his old age he was 
deprived of his small share of the great country he had 
helped to settle and open to the English. 

He moved west to the country owned by Spain, and 
stopped near the present site of St. Louis. The Span- 
ish governor granted him about eight thousand acres 
of land. When this territory was sold to the United 
States, his title was upset and he was deprived of this 
estate also. 

This typical American pioneer died in 1820. 

Oliver Hazard Perry and Thomas Macdonough 

Two Naval Commanders in tlie War of 1813 

The war of 1812 was brought about by the war be- 
tween the French and English in Europe. France 
and England each issued orders forbidding trade with 
the other. Both claimed the right to confiscate all 
vessels that engaged in trade with its rival. The Eng- 
lish claimed also the right to search American vessels 
for British seamen; and they seized hundreds of men, 
many of whom were not English seamen at all but 
Americans. 



205 

In order to avoid war, instead of resisting these un- 
just demands at once, the United States passed the 
Embargo Act, forbidding American vessels to sail to 
any foreign country ; this act occasioned discontent and 
was soon repealed ; only trade with England was for- 
bidden. The English impressments of American sea- 
men continued until finally America had to fight for 
her rights. War was declared, June 18, 1812. Most 
of the American victories in this war were won at sea. 
The most famous of the naval commanders w^as Perry. 

Oliver Hazard Perry was the descendent of an Eng- 
lish Quaker, who came to America about the middle of 
the seventeenth century to enjoy the free exercise of his 
religion. He went first to Plymouth where Quakers 
were disliked ; finally he purchased a tract of land in 
Eoger William's Rhode Island colony and settled there. 
Here his descendants remained and here Oliver Hazard 
Perry was born in 1785. His father served in the 
American navy during the Revolution and became so 
fond of the sea that he continued his voyages as captain 
of a merchant-vessel. 

Oliver jvas sent first to a school near his home. A 
few years later his parents moved from South Kingston 
to Newport to give their children the advantage of bet- 
ter schools. The war between England and France 
was now going on, and it seemed at this time as if 
America would be drawn into war against France. 
President Adams, therefore, resolved to establish a 



206 

navy. Captain Perry was given command of a vessel 
called the General Greene, the business of which was 
to defend American merchant-vessels trading with the 
West Indies. Oliver, now thirteen, begged his father 
to let him enter the navy. Permission was granted, 
and Oliver became a midshipman on his father's vessel. 

After danger of war with France was over, young 
Perry still continued in the navy. His next service 
was in the Mediterranean against the Barbary States, 
These states, — Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, and Morocco 
— on the north coast of Africa, had for hundreds of 
years made a business of piracy. They captured ves- 
sels, and used or sold the stores and sold the crews into 
slavery. America, like England and other countries, 
for years bribed them not to molest its vessels. At last 
the Americans determined, instead of paying tribute, 
longer, to send a fleet to the Barbary coast and force 
the pirates to respect the American flag. Oliver Perry 
was on a ship sent in 1802. The fleet cruised about 
and did little fighting and his ship was recalled to 
America in 1803. 

The most daring deed of the war was performed by 
a young American lieutenant, Stephen Decatur. An 
American ship, the Philadelphia, had fallen into the 
hands of the Barbary pirates and Lieutenant Decatur 
went into the harbor with a few men in a boat and 
set fire to the vessel to prevent its being manned by 
the Tripolitans. The Barbary ruler finally made a 



207 

treaty of peace with the United States. In the war 
Perry had had no special opportunity to distiugnish 
himself, but he had proved himself brave and efficient. 
When the war against England began in 1812, it 
seemed that American chances for sea victory were 
small. England, the mistress of the seas, had a large, 
well-equipped navy; the American fleet was far in- 
ferior in numbers and in size. But the Americans 
had brave seamen who won some brilliant victories. 
One of the greatest of these was that of the American 
vessel the Constitution over the English Guerriere. 

The command of the Great Lakes was very impor- 
tant ; being on the boundary between the United States 
and the English colony of Canada, they controlled the 
entrance to each country. When the war opened, 
the English had a naval force on the Great Lakes, the 
Americans had none. A fleet could not be made ready 
without delay, and an American army under General 
Hull was sent to invade Canada. General Hull sur- 
rendered the fort at Detroit without attempting to 
defend it, and the English took also Fort Dearborn, 
on the site of Chicago. 

To protect the northern coast, Lieutenant Oliver 
Perry was sent to build a fleet on Lake Erie and to 
fight the British there. This was a great undertak- 
ing. There Avas no railroad or canal connecting the 
western with the eastern part of New York. Nails, 
sails, gnus, powder, shot, and supplies of all kinds 



208 

hnd to be carried on ox wagons along the rough roads 
and on boats up the streaniSj,, Perry did not lose time 
bemoaning the difficulty of the task. The very day 
that he received his orders he started carpenters to 
the lake ; having arranged about men and supplies, 
he himself set forth in the depth of winter. In the 
spring, followed men bringing needed stores. In a 
few months Perry had a little fleet built of trees which 
were standing in the forest the summer before. " Give 
me men," he wrote, " and I will acquire both for you 
and for myself honor and glory on this lake, or die 
in the attempt." 

In September, 1813, the American ships sailed 
forth and the English fleet, which was about equal 
in men and guns, made ready to attack. Lieutenant 
Perry hoisted a flag bearing the words, " Don't give 
up the ship," the dying speech of brave Captain Law- 
rence for whom the flag-ship was named. The English 
attacked gallantly, and Perry's ship was so injured 
that " hammered out of his own ship," he had to go 
in a row-boat to the Niagara. With him he took his 
flag and Captain Lawrence's brave words waved as a 
signal from the Niagara. The Americans raked the 
English decks with a deadly broadside. The British 
fought bravely till their ships were crippled and most 
of their officers and many of their men were wounded. 
Then the whole squadron was surrendered, — the first 



200 

timo tliat this fate ever befell the British in a naval 
battle. 

In lion^r of Captain Lawrence, Perry was deter- 
mined that the surrender shonld take place on the Law- 
rence, so he returned to that vessel and there received 
the swords of the British officers. On the back of an 
old letter he wrote his famous dispatch to General 
Harrison: '"We have met the enemy and they are 
ours — two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one 
sloop. Yours with very great respect and esteem, 
O. H. Perry." This battle of Lake Erie prevented the 
English and French invasion of the LTnited States and 
made it possible for the Aiuericans to invade Canada. 
Perry was made captain, then the highest rank in the 
American navy. This ended his service in the war of 
1812. 

In 181 G Captain Perry was sent against the Algerian 
pirates who were again troublesome. The ruler finally 
signed a treaty of peace and Perry returned without 
having had to fight. Two years later, in 1819, he was 
ordered to Venezuela to protest against seizures of 
American vessels and to present claims for losses. He 
succeeded in his mission, but he did not live to return 
home, dying of yellow fever on his thirty-fourth birth- 
day, August 23, 1819. His body was brought home 
in a war-vessel and buried with military honors at 
Newport, Rhode Island. 



210 

Another hero of the war of 1812 was Thomas Mac- 
donongh, " the hero of Lake Champlain," who won a 
decisive victory against odds of men, gnns, and ships. 
Thomas Macdonongli was horn in Delaware and en- 
tered the navy when he Avas sixteen. 

In 1803 he sailed on the frigate Philadelphia bound 
for Tripoli. At Gibraltar he was left in charge of a 
captnred Moorish ship. The Philadelphia, as you 
know, was taken by the Tripolitans ; its crew was 
kept in close confinement nearly two years. Mao- 
donough served on board the Enterprise, commanded 
by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, and he was one of 
the seventy men who captured and destroyed the Phila- 
delphia, which Admiral Nelson declared to be " the 
most bold and daring act of the age." For his gal- 
lantry on this occasion, Macdonough was made lieu- 
tenant. 

In 1810 he made a voyage in the merchant service; 
at Liverpool he was impressed and carried on board 
a British vessel, but he managed to make his escape 
in the clothes of an English officer. 

In 1812 Lieutenant Macdonough, then twenty-six 
years old, was put in command of the naval force on 
Lake Champlain. You remember the old plan of the 
British under Burgoyne for the invasion of I^ew York. 
A similar plan was now devised by the British and 
eleven thousand soldiers were collected at the end of 
Lake Champlain to invade Xew York by way of the 



211 

lake. The English had huilt a fleet to convey this 
army. The Americans had at the time, in 1814, only 
a force of about two thousand men at Plattshnrg, 
"New York, and on the lake Lieutenant Macdonough's 
fleet of fourteen vessels, with eighty-six guns and eight 
hundred and eighty-two men. 

This fleet protected Plattsburg and it was necessary 
to destroy it before General Prevost, the British com- 
mander, could make the land attack. The British 
fleet, consisting of sixteen vessels with ninety-two guns 
and nine hundred and thirty-seven men, advanced to 
the attack early on the morning of September 11, 1814. 
Macdonough in Plattsburg Bay awaiting the enemy. 
The shot of the British vessel shattered a hen-coop on 
board Macdonough's vessel ; a game cock, thus suddenly 
released, jumped on a gun, flapped his wings, and 
crowed. " The men laughed and cheered ; and imme- 
diately afterwards Macdonough himself fired the first 
shot from one of the long guns." 

During the battle Macdonough worked like a com- 
mon sailor at the guns and directed the movements of 
his fleet with a quick eye for every point of advantage. 
His ship was twice set on fire, and one by one his 
guns were disabled ; the damage inflicted on the Brit- 
ish was still more severe and some of their vessels 
were captured ; in two and a half hours their crippled 
fleet had to withdraw. The American fleet was so in- 
jured that Lieutenant Macdonough was unable to pur- 



212 

sue the retreating enemj. But General P revest was 
forced to retire without attacking Phittsburg and the 
invasion of New York had to be given np. 

From his battleship, Macdonongh sent the message: 
" The Almighty has been pleased to grant iis a signal 
victory on Lake Champlain in the capture of one frigate, 
one brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy. T. Mac- 
donongh." Por this victory he was made captain. 

After the war of 1S12, Captain Macdonongh was 
sent on several cruises. In 1825 on account of ill- 
health he obtained permission to leave the Mediter- 
ranean where he was stationed and return to the United 
States. But he did not live to reach his native shores, 
dying at sea, ISTovembcr 10, 1825. His body was 
brought home and buried with military honors. 

Marquis de Lafayette 
A French Patriot 

One of the notable figures of the eighteenth cen- 
tury was a French nobleman who aided in the struggle 
for freedom in two countries, America and France. 
This book can give only a brief sketch of his efforts in 
behalf of the American patriots. By the death of his 
father and mother, the Marquis de Lafayette in his 
youth became master of large estates and great wealth. 

But he did not settle down to a calm and selfish 
enjoyment of these. He heard of the struggles of 



213 

tlie American colonists against tlie oppression of the 
English king and his generous heart was inspired 
with interest and sympathy. Later, he said, " The mo- 
ment I heard of America I loved her: the moment I 
knew she was fighting for freedom, I bnrned with 
desire of bleeding for her; and the moment I shall 
be able to serve her at any time or in any part of the 
world, will be the happiest one of my life." 

He was only eighteen, lately married to a young 
and beautiful lady of rank and wealth equal to his 
owTi. But he turned from the gay and luxurious 
court ; despite the opposition of the government, he 
left France and made his way to America to aid the 
colonists in their fight for freedom. 

He went to Philadelphia ; there he was coldly re- 
ceived by Congress which hesitated to give the young 
foreigner the position to which he was entitled by his 
rank and by the promise of the American commissioner 
in France. A less enthusiastic patriot might have 
taken offence. Lafayette only wrote to Congress: 
" After the sacrifice I have made I have the right to 
exact two favors ; one is, to serve at my own expense, 
the other is, to serve at first as a volunteer." 

His generosity was not unrewarded. Congress made 
him major-general ; he was soon attached to the staff of 
Washington and between the two there grew to be the 
warmest friendship. Lafayette suffered many hard- 
ships in the patriot cause. He was wounded in the 



214 

battle of Brandywine while leading his troops ; ho hore 
without a murmur the privations of Valley Forge, and 
fought gallantly in the battle of Monmouth. 

In 1779 Lafayette went to France for a few months ; 
it was largely through his influence that land and naval 
forces were sent to the aid of America. France formed 
an alliance with America and aided the patriots chiefly 
because she hated England and wished revenge for the 
loss of her northern colonies. The young French of- 
ficer, however, was inspired by love for the cause of 
freedom. 

In 1781 he was sent in command of twelve hundred 
New England soldiers to helj^ the Virginians against 
the invading Cornwallis who had about five thousand 
men. " The boy cannot escape me," said Cornwallis 
Avhen he heard of Lafayette's approach. But " the 
boy " managed to keep out of reach, until he was so 
reinforced that when he offered battle Cornwallis with- 
drew. It was now Lafayette's turn to pursue and 
Cornwallis's to retreat. At Yorktown the British were 
hemmed in by the American army under Lafayette on 
one side and the French fleet on the other, until Wash- 
ington's forces came up. The siege and capture of 
Yorkto^^^l followed, and Lafayette who had contributed 
largely to the success of the campaign was publicly 
thanked by Washington. In December, 1781, the 
young nobleman returned to his home in France. 



215 

A few years later the French began their struggle 
for liberty, the famous French Revolution. The Mar- 
quis de Lafayette drew up a famous " declaration of 
rights/' modeled after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, and drew his sword again in the cause of the 
people. The great French prison, the Bastile, re- 
garded as the stronghold of tyranny, was taken, and 
its key was sent by Lafayette to Washington. 

Lafayette wanted freedom but not license for his 
countrymen, and he lost favor with the violent repub- 
lican party. At last, sick of anarchy in the name of 
liberty, he left France, intending to come to America. 
Lie was seized by the Austrian authorities, and for 
five years was kept in close and cruel imprisonment. 

In 1824 Lafayette, an old and broken man who had 
been deprived of wealth and property, came to visit 
the young republic for which he had fought. He was 
received as the nation's guest, the people's friend ; he 
went from Boston to New Orleans, welcomed and hon- 
ored at every turn. He made a pilgrimage to Mount 
Vernon to visit the tomb of his " great good friend," 
Washington. In Boston he laid the corner-stone of 
the Bunker Hill monument. Congress voted him a 
grant of two hundred thousand dollars and an Ameri- 
can vessel was sent to convey him home. The LTnited 
States joined France in lamenting the death of this 
great patriot in 18 34. 



216 



Some American Improvements and Inventions 

Franklin, the first great typical American, was in- 
terested in science, — not so much the abstract prin- 
ciples as the practical application of those principles 
so as to increase the comfort and well-being of people. 
This was true, also, of Jefferson, another great typical 
American. From those days to the present time, this 
practical turn has been characteristic of American tal- 
ent. Sometimes it has been said in reproach that 
America stands for progress in material w^ays, that her 
men of science care, not for abstract truth, but for 
its market value. 

Let us remember, however, that whenever a great 
cause or principle has needed support, Americans have 
always risen to the occasion. Material progTess and 
business ability are good things, if only we do not 
overestimate their value in comparison with others. 

In so large a country as America, the question of 
methods of travel and means of transportation was of 
course important from the first. Water-ways were the 
natural and most convenient mode of communication. 
If you will look on a map of the colonies, you will see 
how the settlements clung to water-lines — ocean, lake, 
and river. 

Before the Eevolution, men went to and fro as they 
had done for hundreds even thousands of years. On 
the water they traveled by slow boats, propelled by 



217 

oars or sails. On the land they journeyed on foot, 
or horseback, or in rnde vehicles, over roads which 
were generally rough and bad and often dangerous. 

It was so expensive to carry goods to and fro that 
their carriage within the limits of a state might cost 
more than the value of the goods. It cost, for in- 
stance, two dollars and a half a bushel to carry salt 
three hundred miles in the state of New York. Peo- 
ple who moved from the eastern to the western part 
of the state could not afford to carry their household 
goods. They had to be carried by boat from JSTew 
York to Albany, hauled to Schenectady, carried in 
boats up the JNIohawk River and on a small canal to 
Utica, then hauled overland to Rome, and carried 
again in boats down a small canal and creek to Oneida 
Lake, thence by water to Lake Ontario. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century, in 
three ways travel and hauling were made easier and 
cheaper. The simplest of these was by the extensive 
use of canals. A canal is a trench filled with water 
deep enough to carry well-laden boats. The boats are 
drawn by horses which travel along a path called a 
" tow path." In most cases the boats are moved up 
and down inclines by means of what are called " locks " 
on the canal. It is usually cheaper to haul goods by 
canals than by natural streams as the locks make the 
water lift or lower loads on inclines. 

The people of Kew York state became convinced 



218 

that canals along and connecting their water-ways 
would be a good and cheap way to carry manufactured 
articles from New York city to the western settle- 
ments, and to convey wheat, corn, and other produce 
to the eastern markets. A canal was planned between 
Albany and Buffalo, to connect the Great Lakes with 
the Atlantic. But the expense of this canal would be 
great and many people did not believe that the traffic 
would repay it. The matter w^as made a political is- 
sue and on it De Witt Clinton was elected governor. 

It was largely through his zeal and energy that the 
project was carried to a successful issue, and a canal 
forty feet wide and three hundred and sixty-three miles 
long was dug. While the canal was being constructed 
people called it " Clinton's Folly," and when it was 
finished and successful they called it " Clinton's Big 
Ditch." 

An effort w^as made to get the general government to 
help construct this canal, but the bill was vetoed. Gov- 
ernor Clinton secured the help of the business men of 
New York, and four months after the aid bill was 
vetoed, the canal was begun, Clinton himself throw- 
ing the first shovelful of dirt. In fact, there was dug 
not one canal, but two canals, — one between Lake 
Erie and the Hudson, and the other between the Hud- 
son and Lake Champlain. 

In the summer of 182r) the western part was opened 
and boats went from Buffalo to New York City. As 




DE WITT CLINTON 



21f) 

there was no telegraph to announce the news of the 
starting of the first canal-boat, it was carried by cannon, 
placed at intervals along the ronte. When the boat left 
Bnffalo, the first cannon was fired ; the man at the 
second heard the report and fired his piece ; and so 
from one to another the news was borne to New York 
in two honrs. Governor Clinton was on the boat which 
made this first trip ; he carried a keg of water dipped 
from Lake Erie which he poured into New York Bay, 
as a sign that the two were nnited. From the first the 
canal was a paying investment as well as a great con- 
venience to the people. Freight rates decreased at 
once to mnch less than their former rates. Instead of 
its costing the farmer of western New. York $1,10 to 
send a bushel of his wheat to the eastern market, it 
cost only forty cents. 

There was another important result. So much 
freight was carried down the canal that vessels began 
to come to New York City in preference to Phila- 
delphia and other ports, as they were sure of cargoes of 
gTain, lumber, etc. This had much to do with the 
growth of New York City and the prosperity of the 
state. This canal is still used. Every year there 
travel down it great fleets of grain barges drawn by 
steam tugs. People overlook other things in Clinton's 
political record, and, on account of this canal, remem- 
ber him as the benefactor of his state. 

About the time that the Erie Canal was completed. 



220 

the first steam railway was built in England. Its in- 
ventor was an Englishman who was bom while the 
American colonies were fighting for independence. 
George Stephenson was the son of a poor workman, 
and as a boy he toiled in the coal-mine where his father 
was employed. He made np his mind, however, to get 
an education. When he was eighteen, he attended a 
night school and learned to read and write. About this 
time his father's health failed and George had to sup- 
port the family. Often he had to labor by night as 
well as by day, but he managed to keep on with his 
studies. 

Uncovered lights were then used by miners; carried 
into mines where there was gas, these often occasioned 
explosions in which many miners were wounded and 
killed. Stephenson set to work to invent a safety-lamp. 
Meanwhile, Sir Humphrey Davy was working on a 
similar invention. The two English scientists, inde- 
pendently of each other, arrived at success about the 
same time. 

Stephenson now turned his attention to the subject 
of steam locomotion. He made a locomotive, a 
"traveling engine" as he called it, which in 1814 was 
successfully used in hauling coal-cars at a speed of four 
miles an hour. Stephenson saw that this locomotiv'e 
had many defects, and he set to work to obtain better 
results. He succeeded the next vear in buildine: an 



221 

engine which had " few parts and simplicity of ac- 
tion." 

After many years of discussion, a plan for a rail- 
road was approved by parliament and a line was opened 
in 1825. People marveled at seeing Stephenson's en- 
gine travel at a speed of fifteen miles an hour; they 
doubted whether the railway would ever become a 
practicable mode of travel. Stephenson said, '' I ven- 
ture to tell you that I think you will live to see the 
day when railways will supersede almost all other meth- 
ods of conveyance in this country — when mail coaches 
will go by railway, and railroads will become the great 
highways for the king and all his subjects. The time 
is coming when it will be cheaper for a working man 
to travel on a railway than to walk on foot." 

After the success of the first railway, it was decided 
to build a line to connect Liverpool and Manchester, 
as the canal between these two cities was inadequate 
for the handling of their passengers and freight. There 
was held a contest between different steam engines in 
which Stephenson's Rocket came out victor. A paper 
commenting on the success of the Rocket, said : " The 
experiments at Liverpool have established principles 
which will give a greater impulse to civilization than 
it has ever received from any single cause since the 
press first opened the gates of knowledge to the human 
species at large." This proved true. The problem of 



222 

cheap and speedy land-travel was now solved. During 
the years which followed England was covered with a 
network of railroads. 

America with its great distances to traverse, was not 
slow to adopt the railroad. Only three years after 
Stephenson's passenger railway was opened, the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad was begun. The first cars 
were only stage-coaches made to run on rails and the 
locomotive was a crude affair, — but it was a vast im- 
provement on former methods of travel. Hundreds 
and thousands of miles of railroads were built in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. Now, great lines con- 
nect the north and south, the east and west. Huge 
engines, very unlike Stephenson's little Rocket, travel 
a mile a minute: instead of taking weeks to go from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, people can make the 
journey in five days. 

Before the steam railway was invented by an Eng- 
lishman, an American inventor had applied the use 
of steam to w^ater-travel and had invented a steam- 
boat. James Watt, a Scotch inventor, had prepared 
the way by his invention of the steam-engine. After 
this was devised, many people thought that it would be 
possible and useful to make it furnish motive power for 
water-travel. Several American inventors attempted 
to make boats moved by steam power and had more 
or less success; but they lacked either money to carry 




ROBERT FULTON 



223 

out their plans or perseverance to bring them to public 
notice. 

While Watts was working on the steam engine, there 
was born in America a boy who was to apply it snc- 
cessfnlly to water-travel. This was Robert Fulton, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, in 1765. He was only a 
schoolboy during the stirring days of the American 
Revolution. lie was a bright boy and early showed in- 
ventive talent. One holiday he went fishing with some 
schoolmates, in a boat propelled by means of poles. 
To avoid the labor of using these poles, Robert made 
some paddle-wheels which he attached to the boat ; 
he also fixed on the stem a paddle by means of which 
the boat could be guided. 

But this was mere schoolboy sport. It did not occur 
to Fulton till many years later to make boat-building 
his profession. Even as a boy he determined that he 
would be an artist. He spent four years in Phila- 
delphia working and studying; there he succeeded so 
well that he went abroad. In England he was wel- 
comed by Benjamin West, a popular American painter. 
Through his courtesy and kindness, his young country- 
man met many interesting English people, men of af- 
fairs and scientists as well as artists. In England Ful- 
ton became interested in canals, which he thought would 
be useful to convey merchandise along the water-ways 
of New York, as you know was done later. In fact. 



224 

lie tecame so much interested in this subject that h(^ 
gave more time to it than to painting and he invented 
several improvements in canals and canal-boats. 

In 1797 Fulton went to France where he continued 
his art studies and his scientific experiments. He in- 
vented a torpedo and diving boat, but he did not suc- 
ceed in getting either the French or the English gov- 
ernment to take it up. In Paris he met a wealthy 
American, Mr. Robert Livingston, who was intere^ed 
in science and who had tried to make a steamboat. 
Fulton said that he was sure he could do so if only he 
had money to carry on the necessary experiments. Mr. 
Livingston at once offered to advance the funds and to 
share the future profits. 

Fulton gladly accepted and began his experiments. 
He made a little model of a steamboat with side-wheels 
turned by machinery. Then he made a trial boat 
which broke before it was used. Undiscouraged, he at 
once set to work on a second one. This was tried on 
the river Seine and to Fulton's great satisfaction it 
worked well. Then he had an engine built in England 
and sent to America. Mr. Livingston secured the pas- 
sage of an act by the ISTew York legislature giving to him 
and Fulton for twenty years the sole right to use on 
the waters in New York state boats propelled by " fire 
or steam." People laughed and said that they were 
welcome to the right for a hundred years. They called 



225 

the steamboat on which Fulton was working " Fulton's 
Folly." 

In the summer of 1807, there was completed the 
Clermont, a side-paddle steamboat one hundred and 
thirty feet in length. It was an ugly object; even Liv- 
ingston confessed, " It looks like a backwoods sa^vmill 
mounted on a scow and set on fire." 

Fulton made ready for a trial trip from l^ew York 
to Albany. The boat moved off from shore, and then 
stopped. Fulton hurried to the engine, and discovered 
and corrected the cause of the trouble. The boat 
moved off again, and this time it kept on amid the 
cheers of the people. The steamboat was no longer a 
question, it was an accomplished fact. On that trial 
trip the boat went a hundred and fifty miles in thirty 
hours, which seemed wonderful speed in those days. 
How different the Clermont was from the swift and 
powerful boats of to-day, the " ocean greyhounds," 
as they are called. 

In 1812 during the war with Great Britain, Fulton 
made a plan for a steam war-ship and he was authorized 
to build it, the first in the world. While attending 
to its construction he contracted a severe cold and died 
in February, 1814. 

We have considered improved methods of travel, — 
canals, railways, and steamboats. Let us look at what 
invention has done for agriculture in America. We 



22(i 

may almost say that Whitney created the cotton su- 
premacy of to-day. Until he invented the gin, the 
seeds and lint had to be separated by hand. It was a 
tedious and costly process. The gin does the work so 
rapidly and well that it is possible to raise and sell 
cotton ranch cheaper than other clothing materials. 
Thns it has become the great agTicultural staple of 
the South. 

Whitney, the inventor of the gin, was not, as you 
might suppose, a southerner. He was born in 1765 
on a farm in Massachusetts ; he never even saw a cot- 
ton plant until about the time that he invented the 
gin. 

Prom boyhood Eli Whitney showed an Intelligent 
curiosity about machinery and a mechanical turn. One 
Sunday he was left at home while the other members 
of the family went to church. He took advantage of 
the opportunity to investigate his father's big silver 
watch ; he took the works apart, but with such care and 
skill that he was able to put 'them together properly 
and his father never suspected what had been done un- 
til Eli told him years afterwards. 

Eli was a faithful student at the village school near 
his home; he longed for a better education than could 
be obtained there and he resolved to go to college. His 
father thought it would be better for the young man, 
now nineteen, to continue work at trade or business, 
but Eli was determined to have an education. For 



227 

four years he worked by day on the farm and in the 
shop to earn money for his expenses, and studied at 
night to prepare himself for college. Then he went 
to Yale, where he spent four years, eking out his scanty 
funds by doing odd jobs and working during vaca- 
tion. 

In 1792 he was graduated from Yale. He wished to 
study law but his funds were now exhausted and it 
was necessai-y for him to set to work. So he went to 
Georgia to teach school. There were then no railroads 
across the country, and Whitney Avent by sea, which 
was the cheapest and most convenient way of making 
the journey. From New York there traveled on the 
same boat Mrs. Greene, the widow of the famous Gen- 
eral Nathanael Greene. She and her children, who 
were on their way to their home in Georgia, soon made 
friends with their fellow-traveler, the bright young New 
Englander. When Whitney reached Savannah he was 
disappointed about the school which he had come to 
teach. 

Mrs. Greene at once invited him to visit her home 
where he could study law until he found such a posi- 
tion as he wished. He proved a pleasant visitor and 
a helpful one, too. He was always ready to put in 
bolts and screws where they were needed and made 
many labor-saving little devices. One day Mrs. 
Greene complained that her embroidery frame tore the 
cloth on which she was working. Mr. Whitney at 



228 

once made a new frame, far superior to the old one. 
jSTot long after this, some of Mrs. Greene's guests 
were talking about the iinprosperous condition of the 
South. It could be remedied, they thought, if a way 
could be devised to separate the short staple cotton 
from the seed, which would make cotton a profitable 
crop. The seed and lint of the sea island cotton do 
not adhere so closely, and these were separated by 
means of a roller-gin, acting on the principle of the 
clothes-wringer. But the sea island cotton can be 
grown only in a certain section near the coast. The 
seeds and lint of the short staple, or upland, cotton 
adhere so closely that they had to be separated by 
hand. Mrs. Greene suggested that Mr. Whitney, who 
was so clever with tools, should invent a machine to 
do this work. Whitney was willing to try. He had 
never even seen cotton in the seed ; he got some and ex- 
amined it and tried to devise a machine to do the work 
of the human fingers. 

His first plan was to have a cylinder on which were 
fastened circular saws ; as the cylinder revolved the 
saw-teeth would catch the cotton and drag it from the 
seeds. On the plantation he could not get tin or metal 
plates to make these saws; finally he decided that 
teeth of wire would do as well or better. He made a 
model of a gin which worked well, except for the fact 
that the cotton lint stuck to the saw-teeth and clogged 
them. 



22D 

" I must devise some way to get the cotton off the 
teeth," he said. 

" Use a brush/' suggested Mrs. Greene, picking up 
a brush and with it removing the cotton from the wires. 
Mr. "Whitney accepted the suggestion and put rows of 
small brushes on a second cylinder to meet the teeth 
and take off the cotton. 

In 1793 Whitney went north to secure a patent for 
his machine. The Secretary of State then was Jef- 
ferson who was interested in all inventions and es- 
pecially in those useful in agriculture. He asked many 
questions about the workings of the gin wdiich he fore- 
saw would prove a vast benefit to the cotton-growing 
states. 

Cotton was raised and sold now at a profit, for one 
man could gin a thousand pounds in the time it had 
taken to seed one pound by hand. Macaulay said, 
" What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, 
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin has more than 
equaled in its relation to the power and progress of 
the United States." 

I wish I could tell you that ^Vllitney won fortune 
by his invention which was such a great benefit to his 
countrymen, but this was not the case. Men infringed 
his patent rights and there was for a long time a 
foolish prejudice among buyers against ginned cotton. 
Whitney spent thirteen years struggling for justice and 
recognition, and his patent had almost expired before 



230 

his legal rights were established. Friends made ail 
effort to get the patent, which ran only fourteen years, 
extended, but in vain. 

Whitney was destined to be more successful in an- 
other undertaking. He thought that the United States 
ought to make its own firearms, and he succeeded in 
getting money advanced by the government to aid him 
in starting a factory near New Haven. He invented 
new methods which proved successful and profitable. 
His factory brought him fortune and his prosperous 
latter years were spent in his Connecticut home. 

Another American benefactor of the farmer first 
and so of the whole country was Cyrus McCormick, 
the inventor of the reaper. He was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1809. In his boyhood, grain was cut with the 
sickle. It was gathered into bundles by hand, tied, and 
put up in stacks. The grain was separated from the 
straw and chaff by beating it with flails. This was 
slow and tiresome work. 

Many men before McCormick tried to invent ma- 
chines to reap grain. Some of the English machines 
were fairly successful. You would think that the Eng- 
lish farmers would welcome the invention. Instead, 
they said that it would deprive laborers of work, and 
they threatened to kill the makers if they continued 
to manufacture these machines. 

In sparsely-populated America people were on the 



231 

lookout for labor-saving- inventions ; they welcomed the 
reaping machine which was invented by McCormick 
in 1831. This useful invention won both money and 
fame for Mr. McCormick ; a part of his well-gained 
wealth was devoted to the endowiuent of schools. 

In 1851 at the World's Fair in London there was 
a trial of diiferent reapers. Under unfavorable con- 
ditions, the McCormick machine did perfect work ; at 
a timed trial it proved that it could cut twenty acres 
in a day. A •farmer who was present broke his sickle 
across his knee, saying that it would no longer be 
needed. Wonderful improvements have been made in 
the reaper. There are great machines now on the prai- 
rie lands of the west which cut the grain, thresh it, 
and carry it from the fields in sacks ready for the 
mill. 

Mowing-machines constructed on a plan similar to 
the reapers, cut grass, and horse-rakes and hay-forks 
handle the hay so cheaply that the production of hay 
now costs less than a fifth of what it did under the old 
methods. Flails, too, have been replaced by modern 
threshing machines. 

The labor-saving machines used on a farm enable a 
few people to do with ease the work which formerly 
required the labor of many. As fewer men are re- 
quired in the country, more are set free to engage in 
business and trade. For these purposes, they gather 



232 

in cities, which have gained size and wealth that would 
have been impossible under old agricultural condi- 
tions. 

Let us now consider the improvements in methods 
of communication. The carrying of letters and pa- 
pers by the great postal system of our government, is 
done chiefly on the steam cars and steamboats, which 
have already been described. You know, however, that 
by means of the telegraph and the telephone messages 
can be transmitted much more promptly wthan by mail. 
Both these modes of communication are recent. Be- 
fore they were invented, various methods were used 
to transmit intelligence quickly. You learned how, by 
the firing of cannon along the canal, in two hours it 
was announced in New York that the first boat was 
starting down the Erie Canal. 

A thousand years ago, beacon-fires were lighted along 
the coasts of England to warn people of the approach 
of an enemy ; a hundred years ago, similar signals 
were used in our own country. Sometimes a wood 
fire was kindled, sometimes a pot of tar was set on 
fire. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the 
semaphore was used to some extent. This consists of a 
horizontal bar, set on a high post. By changes in its 
position, according to a method of signals agreed upon, 
messages are sent. Flags are used for signals and 
messages are sent by placing flags of different colors 
and shapes in different positions; this is less practi- 



233 

cable on land than at sea where the range of vision is 
nninterrupted. Another method of signaling is by 
mirrors to reflect the sunlight. But all these methods 
have inconveniences and are limited to comparatively 
short distances. 

Early in the nineteenth century, scientists thought 
that electricity which can be conducted by wires from 
place to place might be utilized to carry messages. 
This was at last successfully accomplished by an Ameri- 
can, Samuel Finley Breese Morse. 

Morse was born in Massachusetts in 1791 and was 
given the "names of his father, his grandfather, and his 
great-grandfather. As befitting a child with the repu- 
tation of so many to sustain, his education began early. 
At four he was sent to what was called a " dame 
school " conducted by an old lady in the neighbor- 
hood. At seven he was sent away from home to at- 
tend a preparatory school ; later he went to an academy ; 
and thence at fifteen to Yale College. 

At Yale he was much interested in some experi- 
ments with which a professor illustrated a lecture on 
electricity. It seemed to young Morse that this great 
force which travels with such wonderful speed ought 
to be put to some use. During vacation he made many 
experiments in the college laboratory. 

But art, not science, was the subject which inter- 
ested him most. From his childhood, he had been fond 
of drawing; he developed such skill and interest in the 



234 

pictorial art that when he left college he told his fa- 
ther he wished to become an artist. Dr. Morse had 
hoped that his son would choose a profession but he 
resolved to let the youth follow his own inclinations 
and talents. Young Morse studied art several years, 
first in America and afterwards in England. His pic- 
tures brought him praise and medals abroad, and at 
home he became a successful portrait painter. He 
organized the National Academy of the Arts of Design 
and was made its president. Then he Avent abroad 
again and spent three years studying his chosen art. 

In 1832 he started home; he was now forty-one years 
old and his life-work up to this time had been art. At 
this time an incident turned his attention to science, 
to the mysterious force which had interested him in 
his college days. On shipboard coming home, there 
arose a discussion about electricity and the almost in- 
stantaneous passage of a current along a copper wire. 

Morse said : " If the presence of electricity can be 
made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason 
why intelligence may not be transmitted by it." 

The more he thought about it, the more convinced 
he became that messages could be sent as he had sug- 
gested. When he got home, instead of painting por- 
traits he spent his time trying to make an electric cur- 
rent carry a message along a wire and to invent an 
instrument to receive the message. lie became very 
poor, and moved to an attic where he devoted himself 



235 

to study and experiments. In 1835 he had devised an 
alphabet consisting of dots and dashes and had in- 
vented a machine, rongh and crude but which would 
carry messages. 

He did not have money to push his invention, but 
in 1837 Mr. Alfred Vail became interested in the 
machine and offered to furnish money and enter into 
partership with the inventor. In 1840 a patent was 
secured. Morse tried to get an appropriation from 
Congress for testing his machine, but it was delayed 
so long that he despaired of success. One morning in 
March, 1843, a young friend, Miss Ellsworth, brought 
him news that an appropriation of thirty thousand dol- 
lars had been made by Congress for '' constructing a 
line of electric-magnetic telegTaph." Morse promised 
that she might send the first message by telegraph be- 
tween Baltimore and Washington. The line of wires 
put up on poles, was finished May 24, 1844. The first 
message sent was the text selected by Miss Ellsworth, 
" What hath God wrought." 

The Democratic National Convention was held in. 
Baltimore about the time that the line was completed 
and the names of the nominees were telegraphed to 
Washington. People refused to believe the message 
was really sent till the news was confirmed by later 
tidings. 

In 1842 Morse made experiments to prove that mes- 
sages could be carried under water. As water is a 



236 

good conductor of electricity, it was necessary to in- 
sulate tlie wire, which Morse did by wrapping it with 
hemp covered with pitch, tar, and rubber. This un- 
der-water wire worked well, and a plan was formed 
to put across the Atlantic a cable resting on the plateau 
between Newfoundland and Ireland. 

This scheme was undertaken by Mr. Cyrus W. Field. 
The first cable made of insulated wire protected by 
twisted wire rope was broken in the attempt to lay it 
in 1857. The second cable was laid and it worked a 
few days. The first message sent by the cable which 
united Europe and America was " Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards 
men." The third cable failed also, but the fourth, 
laid in 1866, gave good service. For thirteen years 
Cyrus Field had worked for the cable and at last out 
of failure had come success. Since the fourth cable 
was laid, there has been constant communication be- 
tween Europe and America. 

The latest great step forward in telegraphy was made 
by Marconi, an Italian scientist, who invented a system 
of telegraphing without the use of wires. 

The telephone has one advantage over the telegrapb ; 
it enables a person not only to send messages but to 
carry on a conversation with persons at a distance. 
The electric telephone was invented in 1875 by Alex- 
ander Graham Bell. His father was a Scotch educa- 



237 

tor and scientist who invented a method called " Bell's 
visible speech " to teach deaf-mntes to speak. Tele- 
phones now connect places hundreds of miles apart. 

As great advances have been made within the last 
century in methods of lighting houses as in modes of 
travel and of communication. At the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, people still used candles and 
crude lamps, similar to those which had been in use 
for hundreds of years. The principle of the candle 
and the lamp is the same; oil or grease, liquid or solid, 
is burned by means of a wick. During our great- 
grandfather's days, well-to-do people used chiefly wax 
candles and poor people used candles made of tallow. 
In many families the only light was furnished by pine 
knots, called lightwood because the pitch burned mak- 
ing a bright light. It was by such a light that Abra- 
ham Lincoln studied. 

About the beginning of the nineteenth centuiy an 
Englishman invented practical gas-light and carried 
gas made from coal through his house in pipes. In 
1821 illuminating gas was made and used in Balti- 
more for the first time in this country. About a half- 
century later, another stride forward was made in the 
lighting of houses. Edison invented the electric light, 
the brightest, cleanest, and safest light, and the one 
requiring least care of any yet devised. There are two 
kinds of the electric light, both widely used. The in- 



■ 238 

candescent, or " glow lamp " as it is called in Eng- 
land, is most common. The arc light is used for light- 
ing large buildings and city streets. 

Thomas Edison is an American scientist who has 
made it his life work to make practical use of the great 
force of electricity. He w^as born in 1847 and is still 
living and still working. He was the son of a hard- 
working laborer. His mother had been a school teacher 
and she gave her son as good an education as she could. 
When only twelve years old, he started out to earn his 
own living as a news-boy on the Grand Trunk Rail- 
road. 

He was a business-like, enterprising youngster. 
When there was exciting news in his papers, he tele- 
graphed the fact to stations in advance and bought 
extra supplies of papers which he disposed of at a 
good price. He decided that he would like to print a 
paper of his own, so he got some old type and fitted 
up part of a freight-car as an office. Here he pub- 
lished a weekly paper, " The Grand Trunk Herald," 
which became popular with railroad people. He un- 
dertook a second paper called the " Paul Pry " but for 
some personal remarks in it he was severely punished 
and he soon after gave up journalism. 

He now became interested in chemistry. He bought 
cheap apparatus and some chemicals and in his freight- 
car office devoted himself to experiments. Unfortu- 
nately, an over-turned bottle of phosphorus set the floor 



230' 

on firo; the eoiuliietor put the young editor and scien- 
tist, with his printing press and cliemical outiit, off the 
car. 

When Edison was about fifteen, he saved the life of 
a two-jear-old child, dragging it from in front of the 
engine at risk of his own life. The grateful father 
was a station agent and he offered to teach Edison 
telegraphy. The hoy became a rapid operator, but was 
too fond of experimenting to devote himself to work 
and he drifted from one place to another. Finally he 
went to New York City. Eor his inventions of stock- 
printing and other telegTaph appliances, he received 
forty thousand dollars and this enabled him to estab- 
lish a laboratory to work out his ideas. 

For many years Edison was laughed at because he 
believed that a telegraph wire can be made to carry two 
messages at once ; by his duplex system he made it do so, 
and later by his quadruplex system he made it carry 
four messages. 

He added some improvements to the telephone in- 
vented by Bell, invented a phonograph to record and 
repeat the sound of the human voice, and a megaphone 
to carry the sound to a distance, and the kinetoscope. 

His greatest work, however, was in connection with 
the electric light. lie worked on it a long time before 
he succeeded. The chief trouble was in securing a 
good non-conducting filament. He sent men to search 
in China, Japan, South America, and C^eylon for bam- 



240 

boo and other i:)lants which would answer his purpose. 
Out of three thousand specimens of vegetable fiber, he 
found three or four which would do. In 1880 the 
light which is now used all over the world was perfected 
and exhibited. 

Edison has made few, if any real scientific discov- 
eries, but he has made many ingenious inventions, and 
has applied scientific principles to practical purposes 
so as to increase the comfort and economy of living. 

Andrew Jackson, 

The Man of the People 

While Washington, the aristocrat, was using his 
sword and Jefferson, the scholarly gentleman, was using 
his pen, to form in America a government of the peo- 
ple, there was growing up in a border settlement a 
youth who was to be a " man of the people " and bear 
rule over it. 

Andrew Jackson was the son of a poor Irish emi- 
grant, who spent the years after his coming to America 
in a brave fight for bread for his wife and children. 
Worn out by the struggle, he died, and the children 
were left to their mother's care. Andrew was bom 
at the Waxhaw settlement which is partly in ISTorth 
Carolina and partly in South Carolina, both of which 
states have been claimed as Jackson's native place. In 
childhood he attended an " old field school " where he 



241 

frained the rudiments of an education and at work and 
play held his own among his comrades. 

" T could throw him three times out of four," said 
an old schoolmate, in later days " but he never would 
stay throwed. He was dead game and never would 
give up." 

!Reither then nor in later life was he handsome, with 
his pale, sharp-featured face, his sandy red hair, and 
his keen steel blue eyes. 

Andrew's elder brothers, mere lads at the time of the 
Revolution, served in the patriot forces and Andrew 
joined them when he was only thirteen. He was taken 
prisoner by the British and it was then that a well- 
known incident occurred. 

A British officer ordered Andrew to black his boots 
and the lad refused. 

'' I am a prisoner of war," he said, " and demand to 
be treated as such." 

The angi"y officer drew his sword to chastise the 
young rebel ; Andrew, raising his arm to parry the 
blow, received a wound, the scar from which he carried 
to his grave. One of his brothers died from neglected 
wounds. Andrew and Robert were confined with about 
three hundred other American prisoners in a stockade 
at Camden. Andrew, through a hole in the fence, 
watched the battle of Ilobkirk's Hill and the last hope 
of release departed when brave General Greene was 
forced to retreat. Xot long after, however, the two 



242 

brothers were released, probably in an exchange of 
prisoners. With their mother thej made their way 
home. Robert died of smallpox canght while in prison 
and Mrs. Jackson died soon after of fever contracted 
while nnrsing American prisoners. Thns Andrew was 
left alone in the world, — with a bitter feeling that his 
mother and brothers had been sacrificed to British in- 
justice. 

The orphaned and penniless lad set to work, first 
at a trade, then as a school teacher ; finally he studied 
law. When he began to practice his profession, he 
crossed the mountains and went west to the region now 
forming the state of Tennessee. In that rough border 
country, as it then was, his strong will, courage, and 
common sense were even more valuable than his small 
store of legal knowledge. People soon came to respect 
and depend on him. When offenses against the law 
were reported to the governor, he said, " Just inform 
Mr. Jackson ; he will be sure to do his duty and the 
offenders will be punished." 

Mr. Jackson soon became Judge Jackson. We are 
told that on one occasion he ordered the sheriff to arrest 
a desperate criminal ; the officer returned and reported 
that he was unable to do so, the man resisted his author- 
ity. Judge Jackson descended from the bench, went 
out and arrested the man, marched him into court, re- 
sumed his seat, tried the case, and sentenced the of- 
fender. It was a characteristic incident. 

In 1791 Jackson married and between him and his 



243 

wife there existed a simple-hearted devotion which was 
never broken. Some one who saw her years later when 
the beauty of youth was gone, described her as a 
" coarse-looking, stout little old woman," but she re- 
mained beautiful to his eyes. 

After Tennessee was admitted to statehood, Jackson 
was sent to Congress, first as representative, then as 
senator. From Washington he returned to the moun- 
tains which he loved, and busied himself as store keeper, 
cotton-planter, and stock-raiser, — recognized in his 
community as a man of undoubted integrity, a staunch 
friend, and a relentless foe. He took part in two duels, 
in one of wdiich he w^as severely wounded and killed his 
opponent. 

Jackson offered his services as soon as the war of 
1812 broke out. He was ordered to lead the militia 
to Xew Orleans, which it was thought would be at- 
tacked. When he had gone about five hundred miles 
he was ordered to disband his troops. 

Soon after, he led a force against the Creek Indians 
who took advantage of the war in progress to attack 
outlying settlements and kill Avliite settlers. The 
troops failed to receive needed supplies and Jackson 
gave up his private stores to the sick and wounded and 
set his soldiers an example of cheerful endurance of 
hardship. At one time, it is said, he invited some offi- 
cers to share his breakfast and they found — a bowl of 
acorns and a pitcher of water. 

At last Jackson agreed that if provisions did not 



244 

come in two days the troops might return home. Soon 
after they turned back, they met supplies; they re- 
freshed themselves and then started to continue the 
homeward march. Jackson galloped to the front, 
raised his rifle and furiously swore that he would kill 
the first man who made a step homeward. The troops, 
driven back to the path of duty, defeated the Indians 
in several battles. After one battle Jackson found an 
Indian baby in the arms of its dead mother. The In- 
dian women refused to care for it and Jackson took 
it to his own tent, fed it with brown sugar and water 
and finally sent it to his home, the Hermitage, where 
the young Indian was cared for and reared. 

Jackson's military merit was now recognized and he 
was made major-general. 

At New Orleans which was attacked by British forces 
about the close of the war, he won the one important 
land victory of the war. The British, secure in their 
superior numbers and discipline, were confident of suc- 
cess. 

" I shall eat my Christmas dinner in New Orleans," 
said one of the British officers. 

" Perhaps so," said General Jackson to whom this 
remark was repeated, " but I shall have the honor of 
presiding at that dinner." 

With wonderful skill and energy, he put the place in 
condition for defence and made ready for the British 
attack which took place January 8, 1815. Fortune as 



245 

well as good generalship favored the x\mericaiis. The 
British were defeated with a loss of about three thou- 
sand men, including their commander. The Americans 
lost only eight men killed and thirteen wounded. A 
treaty of peace had been signed two weeks before, but 
there was then no ocean-cable to convey the tidings, and 
the news did not reach America until after the battle 
had been fought and the repulsed British had sailed 
away. 

In 1818 Jackson led troops to put down the Sem- 
inoles in Florida who were making war on the border 
settlements and had massacred the people at Fort 
Mimms. 

In 1824 Jackson was one of four candidates for the 
presidency. The People's Party founded by Jefferson 
was divided and put forward two candidates both from 
the west, — Jackson and Clay, who were bitter enemies. 
Adams was elected, but four years later Jackson was 
the successful candidate. The poor son of the Irish 
emigrant had fought his way upward, — saddler, law- 
yer, judge, general, he now held the highest office of the 
country. He thought and said that his will was the 
will of the people find he ruled with autocratic power, 
never hesitating to oppose Congress. If he thought 
that a bill was not for the best interests of the coun- 
try, he vetoed it. He never forgot a friend and sel- 
dom forgave a foe. He accepted the view of one of his 
followers who said " to the victors belong the spoils of 



246 

the vanquished." He removed office-holders to bestow 
offices on his friends — a bad example followed and 
carried to great excesses by all parties from that day to 
this. In 1832 he Avas re-elected; the people recognized 
that with all his faults he was honest and loyal to their 
interests. 

The most important acts of his administration were 
his attitude towards the ^Nullification Act of South 
Carolina and his leadership in the " bank war." A 
dramatic incident, at a dinner in honor of Jefferson's 
birthday in April, 1830, showed clearly the president's 
attitude towards those who were beginning to be dis- 
satisfied with the general government. Jackson was 
called on for the first toast. He raised his glass, say- 
ing, " Our federal union ! it must and shall be pre- 
served." Calhoun, the great South Carolina leader 
rose and offered the next toast. " The union, next to 
our liberty the most dear." After a pause, he added, 
" May we all remember that it can only be preserv^ed 
by respecting the rights of the states and by distributing 
equally the benefits and burdens of the union." 

South Carolina considered herself aggrieved by cer- 
tain tariff regulations, and proclaiined that these duties 
should not be paid after a certain day and that if the 
United States attempted to enforce payment the state 
would secede. Jackson issued a proclamation stating 
ably his views as to the binding force of the union. He 
sent to Charleston a naval force, one of the officers of 



247 

which was Farragut, and he ordered General Scott to 
have troops ready to march at once to South Carolina. 
Through the influence of Clay, a compromise tariff bill 
was passed and the conflict was postponed thirty years. 

Jackson acted with equal energy in the bank matter ; 
thinking national banks are unconstitutional, he vetoed 
a bill in their favor, even though his friends believed 
it would cost him re-election. Feeling ran so high on 
this subject that the Senate passed a resolution of cen- 
sure on the president ; this resolution was afterwards 
removed from the record. During Jackson's admin- 
istration the national debt was entirely paid. He was 
probably the only president who went out of office 
more popular than he went in. 

He retired to his beloved home, the Henuitage, and 
there he died in 1845. His tomb bears this inscrip- 
tion : 

" General 
Andrew Jackson 
Born on the fifteenth of March, 1767 
Died on the eighth of June, 1845.'^ 

Henry Clay 

The Great Peacemaker 

On April 12, 1777, Henry Clay, the son of a poor 
Baptist clergyman, was born in Virginia in the coun- 
try known as the " Slashes of Hanover." His ear- 



248 

liest recollections were of the death of his father when 
he was four years old and of Tarleton's troops passing 
his home and carrying off slaves, provisions, and even 
his mother's clothing. 

In boyhood Henry Clay worked hard to aid his wid- 
owed mother. He tnrned his hand to such work 
as came np — plowing the fields aronnd his home, and, 
like many another country boy, going to the grist mill 
with his bag of corn to be ground into meal. In later 
years he received, in memory of his boyhood struggles, 
the nickname of "the Millboy of the Slashes." 

. He studied reading, writing, and arithmetic in an 
" old field school," worked a while as clerk in a store, 
and then studied law. In those days there were no law 
schools in the country, and Clay, like other aspiring 
young men, gained the necessary training from a few 
books, a little instruction in a law office, and practice 
in the courts. 

At twenty the new-fledged lawyer, went west to make 
his home in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky which 
had been but a few years a state. This adopted state 
was his home thenceforth and all his interests were 
identified with it. He worked with indomitable en- 
ergy. In order to train and modulate his defective 
voice he went out in the barnyard and argued his cases 
before the pigs and cows. He used to say that the 
brutes of the farm were the best audiences he ever had. 

Clay secured a good practice, married well and lived 



249 

happily at x\sliland, a farm just outside Lexington, 
which he bought about the time of his marriage. Re- 
membering his own struggles and the kindness extended 
him during those years, he was always interested in am- 
bitious young men and ready to help them with money, 
advice, and influence. 

At the age of twefity-nine, Clay was appointed to rep- 
resent Kentucky in the United States Senate for an 
unexpired term. lie early formulated his " American 
system " declaring himself in favor of internal improve- 
ments, building up home industries, and distributing- 
surplus money from the sale of public lands among 
the states, according to population. In 1811 he was in 
favor of war with Great Britain ; as Speaker of the 
House, " The War Hawk," as he was called, did much 
to bring it about. He was one of the men sent in 
1814 to make terms of peace with England, and it was 
largely through his labors that favorable terms were 
secured. 

Clay admired General Jackson's military ability but 
he censured the invasion of Spanish territory in Florida 
and the two men became bitter and relentless enemies. 

In 1820 began the career for which he is famous — 
that of the " Great Pacificator," trying to avert conflict 
between the north and the south, the free and the slave 
states. It was largely through his influence that the 
contest Avas so long postponed. Clay was not the author 
of the Missouri Compromise — as the bill was called 



250 

which provided that Missouri should he admitted to 
statehood without restriction as to slavery — but it was 
through his influence that it was passed. Although he 
struggled to adjust differences and keep the peace, he 
stood fearlessly by what he thought was right. 

On one occasion Clay consulted a friend about the 
stand he was preparing to take on a public question. 
The friend suggested that the course he planned might 
injure his political prospects. His reply was, " I did 
not send for you to ask what might be the effects of the 
proposed movement on my prospects, but whether it 
is right. I would rather be right than be presi- 
dent." 

His life-long ambition was to become president, and 
he was several times a candidate and once seemed on 
the eve of victory only to be defeated. The Great 
Peacemaker was too moderate for either side. The 
north accused him of favoring slavery, the south of 
making war against established institutions. He was 
not, however, in favor of freeing slaves, except gradu- 
ally, and then of colonizing them. His own slaves were 
well-treated and loved him dearly. 

Clay was one of what is called the Great Triumvi- 
rate, composed of the three foremost leaders in Con- 
gress; Webster and Calhoun were the other two. The 
three were in many ways rivals for power and popular- 
ity, but they united in opposing Jackson — who^ secure 



251' 

ill the favor of the people, held his own against all 
three. 

In 1833 Clay, the " Great Compromiser," carried his 
second great compromise act, secnring the passage of a 
tariff bill which caused South Carolina to withdraw her 
Nullification Act. 

" There is one man and only one man who can save 
the Union," said John Randolph of Roanoke just before 
his death. " That man is Henry Clay. I know he has 
the power — I believe he will be found to have the pa- 
triotism and firmness equal to the occasion." His 
patriotism and firmness were indeed equal to his 
power. 

In 1850 the friction between the slave and free states 
became so great that war seemed inevitable. In order 
to maintain peace, Clay, then an old and feeble man of 
seventy-three, gave up private for public life and re- 
turned to the senate. For the last time the Great Tri- 
umvirate met in Congress. Clay was so feeble that he 
had to be helped up and down the steps of the Capitol, 
but with unquenched energy and fire, he appealed to the 
people's patriotism and urged them to uphold the 
■Union, Through his influence, the compromise meas- 
ures of 1850 were adopted and peace was again restored 
for a time. 

He could well say near the close of his life, " If any 
one desires to know the leading and paramount object 



'252 

of my public lifo, the' preservation of the Union will 
furnish him the key." 

The great leader grew gradually weaker and passed 
away, June 29, 1852. His body was carried back to 
Kentucky and laid to rest in the state he so loved. 

" I am a Whig," he said once : " I am so because 
I believe the principles of the Whig party are best 
adapted to promote the prosperity of the country. I 
seek to change no man's allegiance to his party, be it 
what it may. A life of great length and experience 
has satisfied me that all jDarties aim at the common 
good of the country. The great body of the Democrats, 
as well as the Whigs, are so from a conviction that 
their policy is patriotic. I take the hand of one as 
cordially as that of another, for all are Americans. I 
place country far above all parties. Look aside from 
that and parties are no longer worthy of being cher- 
ished." 

" I know no south, no north, no east, no west," he 
said, at another time. It was such sentiments as these 
that made him Lincoln's ideal of a stateman. The 
conflict he had striven to avert was postponed — but it 
came. His children and grandchildren fought, some 
on one side some on the other. Two of his grandchil- 
dren who were brothers fought on opposite sides and 
both fell in battle. Such was the War between the 
States. 



253 

Daniel Webster 

A Famous Orator 

Daniel Webster was descended from one of the Pu- 
ritans who came from Old England to ISTew England in 
the " great emigration." His father, Ebenezer Web- 
ster, was a stnrdy pioneer who fonght in the French 
and Indian War and in the Revolntion. " Captain 
Webster, I believe I can trust yon," said General Wash- 
ington, and this was the opinion of all who knew him. 

Daniel, one of his ten children, was born in 1782 
in Salisbury, ISTew Hampshire. He was a delicate 
child and from babyhood was indulged and petted by 
his parents and brothers and sisters. He was fond of 
outdoor sports, but he was fond of study too and easily 
led his classes. Many characteristic stories are told 
of his boyhood. It is said that one of his first pur- 
chases was a handkerchief on which was printed the 
recently-adopted Constitution of the United States. 
Thus as a child he read and studied the great instru- 
ment which he was so eloquently to uphold. Looking 
back to his childhood in later years, Webster said : "I 
read what I could get to read, went to school when I 
could, and when not at school was a farmer's youngest 
boy, not good for much for want of health and strength, 
but expected to do something." 

By means of many sacrifices on the part of his fam- 
ily, Daniel was kept at school and finally sent to college. 



254 

The attitude of the family toward him is illustrated 
by an incident of his boyhood. He and his brother 
Ezekiel were one day allowed to go to town, each be- 
ing provided with a small sum of spending-money. 
When they returned home Mrs. Webster asked Daniel, 
" What did you do with your money ? " 

" Spent it," was the reply, and there followed an en- 
thusiastic description of the day's pleasures. Then the 
mother turned to the silent elder brother. 

" And what did you do with yours, 'Zekiel ? " 

" Lent it to Dan'el," was the quiet answer. 

The family was always " lending to Daniel " — mak- 
ing sacrifices for him and feeling amply repaid by his 
aifection and success. 

Young Webster's talents were early recogTiized ; even 
in his college days his eloquence and commanding pres- 
ence and deep sonorous voice attracted attention. 
When he was eighteen he delivered at Hanover a Fourth 
of July oration ; in crude form it uttered the message 
— love of country and loyalty to the Constitution — 
which was the burden of his later speeches. After 
leaving college he began the study of law. He taught 
for awhile in order to aid his brother Ezekiel to obtain 
a collegiate education, but kept steadily on with his 
studies. 

In 1805 he was admitted to the bar, and established 
himself in a ^ew Hampshire village. He was an elo- 
quent and able speaker, and gradually became prom- 



255 

Inent in politics, making addresses at Federalist meet- 
ings and on pnlilic occasions. In 1813, he was sent to 
Congress as a member of the House. There he met 
Clay and Calhoun, the other members of the " Great 
Trinmvirate " of which yon have heard. Webster spoke 
ably in behalf of a national bank, of the tariff, and 
of other measures advocated by the Federalists ; he 
soon came to be recognized as one of the foremost men 
of his party. 

After serving a term in Congress, however, he re- 
turned to private life for a few years. He removed to 
Boston where he continued the j^ractice of his pro- 
fession, earning money easily and spending it with 
equal facility, often before it was earned. He was 
known as one of the ablest lawyers and greatest orators 
in the country. The effect of his eloquence was aided 
by his commanding presence. " Good heavens, he is 
a small cathedral by himself," said a witty English- 
man. 

Among Webster's famous addresses on public occa- 
sions were the oration at Plymouth on the two hun- 
dredth anniversity of the landing of the Pilgrims, the 
address five years later at the laying of the corner stone 
of the Bunker Hill monument, and the eulogy on 
Adams and Jefferson. The best-known passage in the 
eulogy is the imaginary speech of John Adams, which 
many people have supposed to be an extract from a 
real speech. This begins with the famous words, 



25 G 

" Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give 
my hand and my heart to this vote." 

After serving again in the House, Webster was sent 
in 1827 to the Senate; there he supported Henry Clay's 
" American systen)." About this time the question of 
the tariff was causing much friction between the North 
and the South, and the people of South Carolina were 
discussing nullification. This discussion led to one of 
Webster's ablest speeches. In 1830 General Hayne 
of South Carolina made a speech expressing the view 
that the Constitution was " a compact between sovereign 
states " and asserting the right of secession which Ken- 
tucky and Virginia in 1799 and New England in 1814 
had threatened to exercise. In his reply to Hayne, 
Webster insisted that the Constitution was not a '^ com- 
pact " but a " national instrument," and he made an 
eloquent argument for the Union and the Constitution. 
This speech was jmblished and scattered far and wide; 
it was inserted in school-books and declaimed in de- 
bating societies ; its author was regarded as the " great 
expounder and defender of the Constitution." 

The lifelong ambition of Webster, as of Clay, was 
to become president, but like his rival he was doomed 
to disappointment. Many people thought that Web- 
ster might have attained the honor in 1852 had it not 
been for his speech in 1850 on the Fugitive Slave Law. 
Webster was not an extremist. He considered slavery 
" one of the greatest evils, both moral and political," 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



257 

and he was opposed to its being admitted into the west- 
ern territories. He said, however, that the Constitu- 
tion " found slavery in the Union, it recognized it, and 
gave it solemn guaranties " which could not honestly 
and honorably be broken. He asserted that a state had 
no right to refuse to give up runaway slaves to their 
masters, as was provided by the Fugitive Slave Law. 
He concluded his speech with an eloquent appeal for 
national harmony and the Union. His position was 
legally unassailable and he was animated by a desire 
to conciliate and unite the jarring sections, but the 
speech called forth a storm of indignation from the 
abolitionists. There was no longer any hope that he 
would receive the presidential nomination. 

But the time was at hand when earthly honors were 
a matter of no moment to the great orator. His health 
was giving way, and he died September 8, 1852, at 
Marshfield, his beloved home beside the sea. His dy- 
ing eyes were gladdened by the sight of the flag he 
loved, the symbol of the " Union and liberty " for which 
he had striven. 

Abraham Lincoln 

The War President 

When asked about his early life Abraham Lincoln 
once said, " It can all be condensed into a single sen- 
tence and that sentence you will find in Gray's ' Elegy,' 



268 

' The short and simple annals of the poor.' " 

His father, Thomas Lincoln, was a roving, shiftless, 
man, a carpenter bj trade ; after his marriage his wife 
taught him to read and to write his name, bnt here his 
education began and ended. Abraham Lincoln's 
mother came, he said, " of a family of the name of 
ILmks," about whom nothing good is recorded. Of his 
mother personally, almost nothing is known. 

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in a 
log cabin in Kentucky. When he was seven years old, 
his father made one of his numerous moves, going to 
Indiana and taking up a claim of land. There he 
built what was called " a half -faced camp " — a log- 
shed open on one side ; in* this his family passed the 
winter. The next year Thomas Lincoln built a cabin ; 
it had four walls, but for years it was left without floor, 
door, or window. Instead of steps there were pegs in 
the wall by means of which Abraham ascended to the 
loft where he slept. The furniture was rude and 
scanty. It consisted of a few stools, a rough table 
and bed, some pewter dishes, a skillet and a pot. 

Abraham was only nine years old when his mother 
succumbed to a fatal disease. As she lay on her death- 
bod she called her son and daughter to her and gave 
them her last charge. " Be good to one another," she 
said, " love God and your kin." 

The winter which followed was dreary and desolate 
for the motherless children. A few months later 



259 

Thomas Lincoln brought to the cabin a second wife A\ho 
was a mother indeed to the two little ones. She was 
thrifty and indnstrions, as well as kind and affectionate, 
and under her rule the family had more of the comforts 
of life than it had ever known before. Mrs. Lincoln 
insisted that ten-year-old Abe must be sent to school 
and so he trudged every day to the log schoolhouse a 
mile and a half from home. 

He was a diligent student, and he read every book on 
which he could lay his hands. These books were few 
in number ; the Bible, " ^Esop's Fables," " Eobinson 
Crusoe," " Pilgrim's Progress," a history of the United 
States, and "Weem's " Life of Washington," were read 
and re-read. His bookcase was a crack between the 
logs of the cabin wall. One night the binding of the 
" Life of Washington," was injured by a driving storm ; 
to pay the man from whom it was borrowed for the 
damage, Abe worked three days in his corn field. At 
night the boy would lie flat on the floor before the fire 
and cipher on a plank or a wooden shovel with a piece 
of charcoal ; when the surface was covered with figures, 
he would erase them and begin anew. 

His father considered the hours spent in study as 
wasted time, and Abe was often called tO' put his books 
aside to grub and plow and mow. Such work was lit- 
tle to his taste ; he said in later years, " his father taught 
him to Avork but never taught him to love work." 

Abe grew fast and at seventeen he was over six feet 



260 

tall. He was strong and active, but an awkward 
figure, in his homespun shirt, buckskin trousers, and 
cap of squirrel or coon skin. 

In the spring of 1830 when Abe was twenty-one his 
father moved to Illinois where fertile land was to be 
had on easy terms. The household goods were car- 
ried on an ox-wagon and it took two weeks to make the 
long and tedious journey. In the new settlement the 
men set to work to clear away the forest and build 
cabins. Abe helped to split rails to fence in the little 
farm. He not only helped at home, but worked for 
others as occasion demanded. We are informed that 
he bargained with a Mrs. Miller " to split four hun- 
dred rails for every yard of broAvn jeans dyed with 
white walnut bark that would be necessary to make him 
a pair of trousers." 

A little later he made a trip to !N^ew Orleans with a 
boat-load of meat, hogs, and corn. In that city for the 
first time he saw slaves bought and sold. You remem- 
ber that slavery had been introduced into America early 
in the seventeenth century. For a long time slavery 
existed in both the northern and the southern colonies, 
but in the course of time it was limited to the south 
where alone slave labor was profitable. Lincoln did 
not think that it was right that negroes should be sold 
like cattle, and he said, " If ever I get a chance to hit 
that thing [slavery] I'll hit it hard." 

After his return home; he became clerk in a country 



261 

store. Here by his senipiiloiis honesty he earned the 
nickname " Honest Abe." One day he made an over- 
charge of fonrpence and that night he walked several 
miles to retnrn the money. During his leisure he con- 
tinned his studies. Books were scarce, and on one 
occasion he walked six miles to borrow a grammar. 

In 1832 Abe Lincoln was elected captain of a com- 
pany of volunteers who marched with tlie reguhir troops 
against the Indian chief, Black Hawk. Most of the 
men went home when their term of enlistment expired 
but Abe Lincoln re-enlisted and served as a private. 
This was his only experience in actual warfare. When 
he returned home he j^resented himself as a candidate 
for the legislature. Llis neighbors heartily supported 
" humble Abraham Lincoln " who was one of them, but 
he was defeated. He was a clear, straightforward- 
speaker with a pointed, well-told joke for every occa- 
sion. 

After his political defeat he opened a store in part- 
nersliip with a friend. As Lincoln spent his time in 
studying and telling jokes and Berry spent his in drink- 
ing, it is no wonder that the business proved a failure. 
Berry died soon after this ; Lincoln assumed all the 
debts of the firm and paid them to the last penny, al- 
though it required his savings for over fifteen years. 

Lincoln now began to study law, supporting himself, 
meanwhile, by doing such work as came to hand. Peo- 
ple took it as a joke that this rough, awkward fellow 



262 

was preparing himself for a profession. One clay a 
man who saw him sitting on a woodpile poring over a 
book asked, " What are you reading, Abe ? " "I am 
not reading; I am studying," was the answer. " Study- 
ing what ? " " Law, sir," said Abe. The man laughed 
uproariously, but Lincoln kept on with his studies; 
neither in youth nor in manhood was he to be turned 
from a purpose by ridicule. He worked as a farm- 
hand, he learned to survey lands, he served as post- 
master of the country office. We are told that " he 
carried the office around in his hat," — putting in his 
hat the handful of letters which came to New Salem 
and distributing them as he went to survey land. 

In 1837 Lincoln was licensed to practice law. He 
resolved to make his home in Sj^ringtield, lately made 
the capital of the state. He rode thither on a borrowed 
horse, carrying in a pair of saddle-bags all his personal 
effects, — " two or three law-books and a few pieces of 
clothing." One who knew him in those days describes 
him as a tall, gaunt, awkward iig-ure ; he wore a faded 
brown hat, a loose, ill-fitting coat, and trousers which 
were too short ; in winter he added to this costume a 
short cloak or a shawl. In one hand he carried a car- 
pet-bag containing his papers, and in the other a faded 
green cotton umbrella, tied with a string. Like the 
other lawyers of the place, he " traveled on the circuit," 
going from one place to another to attend courts. He 
usually carried with him a book or two ; rising earlier 



263 

than liis companions, he would sit by the fire to read 
and think. In later days when a young lawyer asked 
Lincoln's advice as to the best method of obtaining a 
knowledge of law, he answered that it was " simple 
though laborious," such knowledge must be gained by 
careful reading and study. " Work, work, work, is 
the main thing." 

Lincoln w^as popular with men and was known as an 
honest, kind-hearted fellow. Lie himself told the fol- 
lowing anecdote : one day as he was riding along dressed 
in his best he saw a hog " mired up " beside the road. 
Unwilling to soil his clothes, he passed on. The poor 
animal gave a grunt which seemed to say, " There now, 
my last chance is gone." Unable to resist the brute's 
appeal, Lincoln went back and helped it out. 

In 1842 Lincoln married Miss Mary Todd, a clever, 
well-bred woman, who forwarded his professional and 
political success. She lacked, however, the amiable 
temper which would have made a happy home ; more 
and more her husband's interest centered in public 
matters and in politics. In 1844 he gave his enthusi- 
astic support to Llenry Clay, the presidential candidate, 
who was " his ideal of a statesman." Two years later 
Lincoln was elected to Congress ; after serving a term, 
he retired from public life for awhile, devoting himself 
to his profession and to his studies. 

In 1854 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise led 
him again to take an interest in politics. Lincoln was 



264 

opposed to the extension of slavery, but lie did not agree 
with the extreme abolitionists ; he said that " loyalty 
to the Constitution and the Union " forbade interfer- 
ence with slavery where it was already established. In 
1856 he was a member of the Convention at Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, which formed the Republican party, the 
object of which Lincoln said was " the preventing of 
the spread and nationization of slavery." 

He became the Eepiiblican candidate for senator in 
1858 and made a famous speech in which he asserted 
that the Union could not endure, part free and part 
slave. " ' A house divided against itself cannot 
stand," ' he said. " I believe this government cannot 
endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not 
expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the 
house to fall, — but I do expect it will cease to be di- 
vided. It will become all the one thing or the other." 
To a friend who objected to this utterance he said, 
" If I had to draw a jDen across my record and erase 
my whole life from sight and I had one poor gift or 
choice left as to what I should save from the wreck, I 
should choose that speech and leave it to the world un- 
erased." 

Lincoln was defeated by Douglas in this contest, 
but the eyes of the people were on him and in 1860 the 
Republican party made him its candidate for president. 
Some of the rails he had split were brought into the 
convention ; the contest between free and slave labor 



265 

was made an issue of the campaigii. There were three 
d)ther candidates in the fiekl, and the division of votes 
in the old parties caused Lincoln to be elected. The 
southern people knew little about Lincoln personally; 
they knew, however, that he led the party which wished 
to destroy slavery. There had been so much disagree- 
ment and friction in the L^nion that some of the south- 
em states now decided to leave it. The Constitution 
did not give the general government power to enforce 
a permanent union. In course of time there came to 
be held two different views about the Union, — one, 
generally held in the South, was that it was " a compact 
between sovereign states " and that the power of the 
state was supreme; the other, generally held in the 
l^orth, was that the states made up one great nation to 
which belonged the supreme authority. The latter was 
the view held by Lincoln. He prepared for his in- 
augural address by studying the Constitution, Clay's 
great speech of 1850, Jackson's proclamation against 
nullification, and Webster's reply to Hayne: locked in 
his dingy office he composed his inaugural address. 

Before he left home, he paid a farewell visit to his 
aged step-parent who had been as a mother to him. 
Then with his wife and three sons, he set forth to Wash- 
ington. 

When he took the oath of office, it was over a divided 
Qnion. South Carolina had seceded and several other 
southern states had followed its example. Lincoln said, 



266 

" the Union mnst be preserved " and he issued a call 
for seventy-five thousand soldiers. At this call there 
withdrew from the Union several states which loved 
the Union but believed in the supreme power of the 
states and the constitutional right of secession. 

The reverse at Manassas distressed but did not daunt 
Lincoln. As commander-in-chief of the army and the 
navy, he appointed officers and supendsed their move- 
ments. There were three great military tasks neces- 
sary for the northern forces, — to control the Mississippi 
Eiver, to blockade southern ports, and to capture Rich- 
mond. The sea forces under Farragut and Porter suc- 
cessfully performed their tasks. In Virginia one un- 
successful or incompetent general after another was put 
forward and supported, — McClellan, Halleck, Pope, 
and Hooker. Meanwhile the great commanders. Grant, 
Sheridan, and Sherman, were fighting undiscovered in 
the west. At last they were brought forward and put 
at the head of magnificent armies to " end the job." 

As a military measure, in 18G3, President Lincoln 
made the emancipation proclamation granting freedom 
to slaves. In November, of that year he made his fa- 
mous address, consecrating the military cemetery at 
Gettysburg. 

I^ot long before the presidential election of 1864, 
Lincoln issued a call for five hundred thousand sol- 
diers; friends urged him to wait a few weeks as this call 
for troops might injure his chance of re-election, Hq 



267 

refused saying, " What is the presidency worth to me 
if T liaA'e no country ? " 

In his second inangnral address are the famons words, 
" With malice toward none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive to finish the work we are in." The end 
was already in sight. The capital of the Confederacy 
fell and Lee's little anny was forced to surrender. 
Lincoln expressed only sympathy for the defeated and 
desolate South. But his plans for reunion in peace 
and kindness were not to be carried out. Just as the 
great victory was accomplished he was struck down by 
the hand of an assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Llis 
death was an even greater loss to the South than to the 
Xorth which mourned so bitterly, the heroic man of 
the people, the martyred president. 



Ulysses Simpson Grant 

April 2Y, 1822, was bom Hiram LTlysses Grant, who 
by an error of which you will hear later had his name 
changed to Ulysses Simpson Grant. Llis father was 
Jesse Grant, an Ohio tanner. Grant's ancestors had 
settled in ISTew England in the seventeenth century and 
some had served in the French and Indian War and 
some had served in the Revolution, so he was of good 
American stock. 



268 

When Ulysses was about ten years old, liis father 
moved to Georgetown, Ohio, about forty miles from 
Cincinnati. There he prospered and became the owner 
of a farm as well as a tannery. Ulysses was not spe- 
cially fond of books, but his father was resolved that he 
should have a good education. The boy was sent reg- 
ularly to school and was a faithful student. He had 
work to do at home too — sometimes in the tannery 
Mdiich he disliked, sometimes on the farm, which he 
liked better. He was fond of horses and learned to 
ride and drive well. 

From the time he was eleven till he was seventeen, 
he did the plowing and hauling on his father's farm. 
His father who seems to have been more ambitions for 
his son than the boy was for himself, secured an ap- 
pointment to West Point. Ulysses did not wish to go 
and feared he conld not pass the entrance examina- 
tions. But his father's word was the law of the family 
and so the sandy-haired, blue-eyed lad of seventeen left 
his Ohio home to go to West Point. He lingered on 
the way to see the sights in Philadelphia and other 
places. 

Two weeks after he left home, he reached West Point, 
in May, 1839. He passed the dreaded examinations 
and was enrolled among the cadets. The Congressman 
who had secured the appointment for him forgot his 
name and filled in the application for Ulysses Simpson 
Grant, and by that name he was called. The boys 



269 

nicknamed liim " Uncle Sam " and called him '^ Sam 
Grant." He got on well in liis studies, especially in 
mathematics which had always been his favorite. He 
was more famons as a horseman, however, than as a 
student. At West Point there is still shown the place 
Avhere he made a famous leaji of six feet, three inches, 
on a big- horse named York. Except for his horseman- 
ship the young Ohioan, quiet in manner and careless 
in dress, was not much noted one way or another. He 
was graduated, June, 1843, twenty-first in a class of 
thirty-nine. 

In 1846 came war with Mexico which Grant then 
and forty years later thought " one of the most unjust 
wars ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation." 
He had hoped for a place in the cavalry, but was sent 
in the infantry as second lieutenant. 

He took part in many battles and distinguished him- 
self by his coolness and courage under fire. In the 
battle of Monterey his regiment lacked annnunition and 
Lieutenant Grant volunteered to go for it to headqmir- 
ters, four miles away. The route he had to travel was 
exposed to the enemy's fire. He hung his foot on the 
saddle and held on to his horse's mane ; thus swinainc: 
on the horse's side he galloped off and carried the mes- 
sage, returning unharmed. 

In Mexico served many men and officers with and 
against wdiom he fought in the War between the States. 
He said afterwards that the knowledge of their char- 



270 

acter and methods which he gained during the cam- 
paign in Mexico was very useful. In the battle of 
Chapultepec, Grant, with the help of some comrades, 
dragged a small cannon up into the belfrj of a church 
and used the place as a fort with great advantage. 
Major Robert E. Lee, in his report of the battle, com- 
mended the young lieutenant, saying that " Second 
Lieutenant Grant behaved with distinguished gal- 
lantry." In 1848 Grant returned home and that year 
he was married. 

Soon after, his regiment was ordered to California 
and Oregon. Unwilling to be separated from his fam- 
ily, in 185-i he resigned and came home. From his 
pay he had not been able to lay aside enough to defray 
his expenses home and these were paid by his father. 

At thirty-two he had to begin the world with a wife 
and children to support. He moved to Missouri to a 
small tract of land belonging to his wife. Here he cut 
and hauled logs and split shingles and built a cabin. 
He named the place Hardscrabble, because, he said, 
life there was a " hard scrabble." He worked diligently 
raising corn, wheat, and potatoes and cutting cord-wood 
for sale to help out his expenses, but he did not succeed 
as a farmer. At the end of three years, he was two 
thousand dollars in debt. Then he tried the real estate 
business but at that too he failed, 

" Grant did not seem to be just calculated for busi- 
ness, but a more honest, generous man never lived," 



271 

said one m'Iio know him in those days. " I don't be- 
lieve he knew what dishonor was." 

At last he gave np the strnggle in Missouri and went 
to Galena, Illinois, where his brothers were carrying- 
on a leather business. He began work in their shop 
as a clerk at six hundred dollars a year. 

But he did not finish out the first year. The War 
between the States began. Grant helped to raise a com- 
pany of soldiers in Galena and drilled them. As Col- 
onel Grant, he was put in charge of the twenty-first 
Illinois regiment which he made the best regiment in 
the state. A little later he was made brigadier-gen- 
eral. After several skirmishes in the border states of 
Missouri and Kentucky, he w^ent, in February, 1862, 
with seventeen thousand men and a fleet of gunboats to 
attack Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Donel- 
son on the Cumberland. Fort Henry was taken by 
the fleet before the army reached it, and then the land 
and water forces made ready to attack Fort Donelson. 
General Buckner, who had been with Grant in Mexico, 
wrote asking Grant for terms of surrender. " 'No 
terms other than an immediate and unconditional sur- 
render can be accepted," Grant replied. " I propose to 
move immediately upon your works." As Buckner was 
unable to hold the fort, he had to surrender on these 
terms. Grant was now made major-general. 

His next plan was to attack and break the base of 
Confederate railroad communications in northern Mis- 



272 

sissippi. For this purpose he marched towards Cor- 
inth. The Confederate general, Albert Sidney John- 
stun, instead of waiting to be attacked, threw his forces 
gallantly against the Federal army. The battle raged 
the whole day, without decisive results. That night 
General Buell brought Grant heavy reinforcements, and 
in the next day's battle General Johnston was killed. 
The Confederates were forced back to Corinth, contend- 
ing for every inch of ground. 

Grant's third move was to divide the Confederacy 
by getting command of the posts along the Mississippi 
River, thus cutting off the western base of supplies. 
The fleet under Farragut had tried to carry out this 
scheme. But Vicksburg and Port Hudson were both 
held by the Confederates, and between these they con- 
trolled the river and brought supplies from the west. 
Vicksburg, called " the Gibraltar of the Mississippi," 
was strongly situated. In five battles Grant drove 
back the Confederate forces and in May, 1863, be- 
sieged Vicksburg, resolved to starve it into surrender. 
Many said that this was a foolish attempt and tried to 
persuade Lincoln to remove Grant, but Lincoln resolved 
to give him a chance. Grant closed in on the Confed- 
erates and cut off their line of supplies. In July Gen- 
eral Pemberton asked for terms and received this an- 
swer: "The unconditional surrender of the city and 
the garrison, I have no terms other than these." The 
taking of Vicksburg was a great victory for the Fed- 



273 

erals. President Lincoln wrote Grant a personal let- 
ter: ''My dear General, I do not remember that you 
and I ever met personally. I write this now as a 
grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable 
service you have done the country. . . . When 
■ou turned northward, I feared it was a mistake. I 
)W wish to make a personal acknowledgment that you 
were right and I was wrong. Yours very truly, A. 
Lincoln." Those who had tried to get Grant removed 
saw that they too were wrong, but they lacked the pres- 
ident's manly frankness and did not confess it. 

Grant was given command of all the armies in the 
West. He went to Tennessee to relieve the division of 
the Union army under Rosecrans which the Confeder- 
ates had hemmed up in Chattanooga. It was shut in 
by the Tennessee river on the north and by mountains 
on all other sides. Grant, with Sherman, Sheridan 
and other brave generals aiding him, marched up the 
mountain and fought a great battle on Lookout Moun- 
tain " above the clouds," by which the troops in Chatta- 
nooga were relieved. 

The title of Lieutenant-General, which Washington 
had borne, was revived for Grant, and he went to Wash- 
ington in March, 1864, to receive his commission from 
Lincoln. The president said in giving it, " As the 
country herein trusts you, so, under God, will it sus- 
tain you." 

Lincoln had now found the general that he had been 



274 

looking for, the man able to lead the magnificent Fed- 
eral army of seven hundred thousand men. Grant 
went to Virginia, the battle-field of the Confederacy, 
where for three years Lee had held his own and de- 
feated four generals sent with large armies against him. 
Grant resolved to break the Confederate lines and to 
capture Richmond. He thought that one cause of the 
lack of Federal success had been that the parts of the 
great army had not worked well together ; he tried to 
make them move like the parts of a well-ordered ma- 
chine. General Sherman was sent southward on a 
march to Savannah to lay the country waste so that no 
help could be sent to Lee's troops. Sherman's army 
covered a track of country sixty miles wide, in which 
railroads, bridges, houses, and provisions were de- 
stroyed. 

It took Grant a year and it cost many lives to carry 
out his plan of overcoming Lee, but he never wavered. 
The two great generals fought one great battle after an- 
other. " I shall fight it out on this line if it takes all 
summer," General Grant wrote after the battle at 
Spottsylvania Court House. Then came the desj^erate 
battle of Cold Harbor. After these battles the Fed- 
erals received reinforcements to repair their losses, but 
none came to the southern army. There were none to 
come ; even the old men and the boys were already in 
the field. On the second of April, 1865, the Confeder- 
ates were forced to abandon Petersburg. Lee endeav- 



• ■ 275' 

oreJ to witlulraw his army but Grant folloAved close in 
the rear. After retreating seventy-five miles, the shat- 
tered, starving remnant of the Confederate army was 
surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, 
April 9, 1865. 

Instead of being detained as prisoners, the Confeder- 
ate soldiers were released on parole and they were al- 
lowed to retain their horses. ' 

" They will need them for their plowing and spring 
work," said Grant with kindly wisdom. 

" General," said Lee earnestly, " there is nothing 
you could have done to accomplish more good either 
for them or for the government." 

To honor Grant for his services, Congress created 
for him the rank of general, a higher title than even 
Washington held. The joy of the North at Lee's sur- 
render was turned to mourning by the assassination of 
President Lincoln. This was an even greater calamity 
for the South than for the North. Lincoln was suc- 
ceeded by Andrew Johnson and there followed a period 
of grave mismanagement, — especially of southern af- 
fairs. At one time Johnson was impeached — that is, 
tried for misconduct in office — and he lacked only one 
vote of being convicted. 

Johnson wished to have Lee arrested and punished 
as a traitor. Grant said that " he had accepted Lee's 
surrender and he and his soldiers were prisoners under 
parole and were not to be punished so long as they 



276 

obeyed the laws to wbicli they had sworn allegiance." 

In 1868 Grant was elected president as the candi- 
date of the Republican party by a vote of two hun- 
dred and fourteen to eighty. He tried to withdraw 
the national government more and more from tlie South 
and to leave the state governments in control. He was 
re-elected in 1872 by two hundred and eighty-six votes, 
showing the people's approval of his administration. 
A noteworthy act of his second term was his vetoing 
the bill for the inflation of the currency, making paper 
money legally equal to gold and silver. 

People wanted him to serve a third term but he re- 
fused, and in 1877 started on a tour of the world. He 
visited Europe and Asia and was everywhere received 
with honor,— as the guest of Queen Victoria, the 
kings of Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, the Czar 
of Russia, and other rulers. Having received royal 
honors in many lands, he returned in 1880 to Cali- 
fornia where he had served thirty years before as an 
obscure young soldier. 

His last years were burdened by business misfor- 
tunes and physical suifering. He had invested his 
money in a banking business which failed and involved 
him in ruin. With poverty came illness, a painful 
throat disease Avhich was to end in death. 

From his sickroom in answer to words of sympathy 
M-liic'h came from all parts of the country, indeed of tlio 
.■\vorld^ he sent this message : " I am very much 




ROBERT E. LEE 



277 

touelicd and grateful for the sympathy and interest 
manifested in me by my friends and by those who have 
not hitherto been regarded as my friends. I desire the 
good will of all, whether heretofore friends or not." 

To make provision for his family, he set abont writ- 
ing his " Memoirs," the story of his life and battles. 
In pain and illness, he toiled on and held death at bay 
till this work was finished, July 1, 1885. A few days 
later, he died on July 23. He was laid to rest beside 
the Hudson and over his remains was erected a mag- 
nificent marble tomb; over the doorway of this is in- 
scribed his noble words, " Let ns have peace." 

Robert E. Lee 

The Leader of the Confederate Armies 

More and more, Americans are coming to realize that 
in the great War between the States men on both sides 
were animated by a sense of duty and devotion to what 
they thought right. On the one side, brave, loyal- 
hearted men upheld the Union ; on the other, men as 
brave and loyal upheld the supremacy of the state. 
You have read how Grant, the victor, won the love and 
reverence of his countrymen ; no less loved and rever- 
enced was his defeated opponent, the great Confeder- 
ate loader, Lee. 

Eobert Edward Lee was born January 10, 1807, at 
Stratford, a handsome old country-home in Virginia. 



278 

His father, General Henry Lee, was the famous " Light 
Horse Harry " of the Revolution. When Robert was 
only four years old, General Lee moved to Alexandria 
in order to give his children the benefit of better schools. 
From childhood Robert was an apt and faithful stu- 
dent, careful to do his best at any task which he under- 
took. His childhood was darkened by the illness and 
death of his father. Robert cared tenderly for his in- 
valid mother who said, " He is both son and daughter 
to me." 

From the school at Alexandria Robert went to West 
Point, where at the end of four years he was graduated 
second in his class. Two years after leaving West 
Point, he married Mary Randolph Custis, the daughter 
of Washington's adopted son, Washington Parke Curtis. 
Lieutenant Lee and his wife made their home at Arling- 
ton, a stately mansion on the Potomac River, in sight 
of the city of Washington. Here he passed a few happy 
months. But a soldier cannot choose his post of duty, 
and Lee was summoned from home to engineer work in 
the West. Then came the war with Mexico in which 
he took part. In this war served as privates or offi- 
cers many others destined to fame in the War between 
the States — Johnston, McClcllan, Pickett, Grant, Jack- 
son. Among his brave and able comrades, Lee made 
a distinguished record. In the advance on the city of 
Mexico, he explored and made a road over a pathless 
lava field across which he guided troops; then he rode 



279 

back alone in the darkness and rain to report to liis com- 
manding' ofHcer. General Scott said that this mid- 
night jonrney was the greatest deed of the war, and 
Lee " the greatest military genins in America." 

After the war with Mexico was over, Captain Lee 
made a visit home. In 1852 he was made snperin- 
tendent of the Military Academy at West Point. 
Thence he was sent to Texas to fight against the In- 
dians. He was in Virginia in 1859 and he was sent to 
suppress John Brown's raid. lie performed his duty 
at Harper's Ferry in soldierly fashion, treated his 
prisoners kindly, and turned them over to the civil au- 
thorities to be punished for breaking the laws. In 
1860 he was again in Texas, but the next spring he re- 
turned to Virginia. The period of disunion and seces- 
sion was a sad one for Colonel L<?e. He loved dearly 
the Union wdiicli his father had aided to establish. He 
had entered its army expecting to devote his life to its 
service. He believed, indeed, in the supreme authority 
of the state, but he thought secession unwise and was con- 
fident that in the Union the vexing questions about 
slavery and the tariff could be settled. 

" If the four million slaves in the South were mine," 
he said, " I would give them all up to keep the Union." 

But dearly as he loved the Union he thought that his 
first duty was to his native state, Virginia, his second 
to tlie Union of which he was a part. When Lincoln 
issued his call for troops, by General Scott's advice 



280 

the comniand of the Union army was offered to Lee. 
He declined, resigned his commission in the armj^ and 
accepted the command of the Virginia forces. It was 
a sad day when he and his family left beantiful Ar- 
lington which was never again to he a home. It fell 
into the hands of the Union soldiers and is now the site 
of a great national cemetery. 

Lee fought at first in western Virginia ; then he was 
sent to aid in fortifying the coasts of South Carolina 
and Georgia. AfterAvards he was put in charge of the 
army in Virginia, and there he remained, as general 
and connnander-in-chief of the southern army until the 
end of the war. The southern army was small hut 
it was commanded by brave and able generals. Lee's 
" right hand " was Stonewall Jackson, a fearless soldier 
and earnest Christian, one of the greatest military lead- 
ers the world has ever kno^ATi. A famous cavalry- 
leader was J. E. B. Stuart, a dashing cavalier who 
loved battle as a boy loves play. Both Jackson and 
Stuart were killed before the war was over. 

As you have been told, it Avas the great aim of the 
northern armi(^s to capture Bichmond ; it was the aim 
of Lee and his little army to defend the city. Lee led 
his soldiers with masterly skill in the Seven Days' 
Fight about Bichmond. Then he marched north ; hav- 
ing defeated Pope at the second battle of Manassas, he 
advanced into Maryland and fought a great drawn bat- 
tle at Antietanij or Sharpsburg. Lee thou returned to 



281 

Virginia. He foTii>'ht at Frocloricksbiirff against Burn- 
side Avho had supplanted McClcllau in command. The 
next spring " Fighting Joe " Hooker was defeated at 
Chancellorsville, but in the death of Jackson, the Con- 
federates sustained a greater loss than that of many 
battles. 

Lee marched north again, and a great battle was 
fought at Gettysburg. General Longstreet failed to ad- 
vance as ordered, the Confederates who had charged 
fell misupported, and the day was lost. General Lee 
led his crippled army back to Virginia. At Gettysburg 
the tide had turned against the Confederates. From 
that day defeat and surrender were but a question of 
time. For a long time Lee's little army held its own 
in defence of Kichmond. Grant, the victor of the 
West, was sent against it. It cost him a month and sixty 
thousand men to march seventy-five miles. With mas- 
terly skill, Lee opposed him in the great battles of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court Llouse, and Cold Har- 
bor, but the Confederate line was broken at last. 

Forced to give up the defense of Richmond, General 
Lee endeavored to withdraw his army, but Grant fol- 
lowed, and the little army was surrendered at Appomat- 
tox Court House, April 9, 1865. As Lee bade fare- 
well to his soldiers, they sobbed aloud and tears were 
in his eyes. Lie said with a broken voice, " Men, we 
have fought the war together. I have done my best for 
you. My heart is too full to say more." 



282 

Great as had been Lee's work in war, it was no less 
great in peace. Bravely and nncomplainingly he ac- 
cepted the results of defeat, and endured the horrors 
of the reconstruction days. No word of bitterness was 
ever heard to pass his lips. Nor would he in their hour 
of woe and poverty desert his people. Wealth and po- 
sition were offered him abroad, and at home he might 
have had affluence by lending his name to business en- 
terprises. But he steadfastly refused all such offers. 
" I think it better to do right," he said, " even if we 
suffer in so doing, than to incur the reproach of our 
consciences and posterity." 

He set himself to aid in the upbuilding and restoring 
of the South. At a salary of a few hundred dollars, he 
became president of Washington College, now Wash- 
ington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. 
Wisely and conscientiously he performed his duties un- 
til the autumn of 1870. One evening at tea his voice 
failed as he was about to ask a blessing and he sank back 
in his chair. After lingering a few days, he died Oc- 
tober 12, 1870. 

David G. Farragut 

Our First Admiral 

David Glasgow Farragut, the first admiral of the 
American navy, was born near Knoxvillc, Tennessee, 



July 5, 1801. lie was tlie son of a Spaniard, a native of 
the island of Minorca, who came to America in 177G 
and after helping the country fight for its rights settled 
here to enjoy them. At the end of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, Tennessee was a sparsely-settled region, occupied 
by a few hardy pioneers and by roaming Indians. One 
day when Mrs. Farragut was alone at home with her 
two little sons a band of Indians attacked the cabin. 
The brave mother sent her children to hide in the loft 
and guarded the door with an ax till help came. 

When David was about seven, Mr. Farragut was put 
in charge of a gunboat on the Mississippi. His family 
moved near New Orleans, and there Mrs. Farragut died 
of yellow fever about a year later. Just before her ill- 
ness, a stranger, an old man who had had a sunstroke, 
had been taken into her home and cared for. This 
stranger was the father of Commodore David Porter. 
The grateful naval officer offered to adopt and educate 
one of the Farragut boys. After the mother's death, 
this offer was accepted for David. The little fellow 
was sent to school and at the age of ten he became a 
midshipman in the navy. He was very small for his 
age, and once when he went ashore a group of idlers 
gathered around and made sport of " the baby officer." 
One waggish fellow sprinkled him with water from a 
watering pot to " make him grow." This led to a fight 
between David's tormentors and the sailors in which 



•284 

David took active part. After it was over, someone re- 
marked that " the babj officer was three pounds of 
uniform and seventy pounds of fight." 

In October, 1812, David sailed with Captain Porter 
on the Essex. Captain Porter was ordered to join the 
squadron in the Athantic if he could : if not, to use his 
own discretion. He cruised about the iVtlantic several 
months, capturing several British merchant-vessels, but 
not finding the American squadron. He then decided 
to make a cruise in the Pacific. There he captured sev- 
eral British vessels and gave timely warning to Ameri- 
can ships that had not heard of the war. At one time 
provisions were scarce, and David, like the others, was 
on a short allowance of bread and water. In May, 
1813, David, then twelve years old, was put in charge 
of a captured English vessel to take it to port. The 
English captain was very angry at having to take orders 
from the " baby commodore," as Farragut was often 
called, but Farragut executed his orders with exactness 
and dignity. 

In March, 1814, the Essex, off the coast of South 
America, was attacked by two English vessels and cap- 
tured after a desperate fight in which the Americans 
lost one hundred and twenty-four men. FarragiTt was 
" a man on occasions," and Captain Porter commended 
his battery in this action. The American sailors were 
made prisoners on parole and they were exchanged only 
a few weeks before the treaty of peace was made. The 



285 

time was improved bv Farragut in attending school. 
Between bis cruises he was generally at school studying 
diligently, and at eighteen he stood the examinations re- 
quired for a lieutenant, though he did not receive his 
promotion till several years later. 

In 1822 FarragiTt went with his friend, Commodore 
Porter, to fight against the pirates which thronged the 
West Indian waters. The American fleet was com- 
posed of small fast-sailing vessels and of boats called 
the " mosquito fleet." They had some exciting ad- 
ventures and encounters with the pirates, whom they 
succeeded in driving from most of their haunts. A 
more formidable foe than the pirates was yellow fever. 
Twenty-five officers were attacked and of those twenty- 
three died ; Farragut was one of the two who recovered. 
Soon after his return to America, Lieutenant Farragut 
was put in charge of the Brandywine to carry Lafayette 
to France. 

In 1833 he w^ent to Charleston under orders to up- 
hold the revenue laws of the United States which South 
Carolina had threatened to nullify. The danger was 
averted and for tbe present he was not called upon to 
serve against his countrymen. During the years which 
followed he made many cruises but saw no active serv- 
ice. He was an excellent officer. One .who knew him 
said, " Xever was the crew of a man-of-war better dis- 
ciplined or more contented and happy. The moment 
all hands were called and Farragut took the trumpet, 



286 

every man under him was alive and eager for duty." 

In 1850 Farragut and three other officers were ap- 
pointed to draw up a book of regulations for the navy. 
They devoted eighteen months of hard work to the task 
and made an excellent manual. A few years later the 
book appeared with a few changes ; the names of the 
four men wdio had prepared it were omitted and the 
credit was given to men who had really done none of 
the work. The fair-minded and hard-working young 
officer was naturally indignant at this injustice. 

Later, he was sent to California and spent four years 
establishing navy-yards near San Francisco. He was 
now captain, which was then the highest rank in the 
American navy. On his return to Washington in 
1858, he was put in charge of a new vessel, the Brook- 
lyn. This was very different from the old sailing-ships 
on which he had served, being one of the first steam war- 
vessels in our navy. 

The clouds of the War between the States were now 
gathering over the country, greatly to Farragut's dis- 
tress. He was a southerner by birth but from boyhood 
he had been in the nation's service and his strongest 
affections were for the American navy. 

" God forbid that I should raise my hand against the 
South," he said.. 

Yet when the war broke out he felt that he must 
choose the national cause. In January, 1862, he was 
sent in charge of a squadron to secure the Hississippi 



287 

River for the Union. He was to capture Fort Jackson 
and Fort St. Philip which defended New Orleans, then 
take the city, and afterwards sail up the river, subject- 
ing the forts along the banks. He was in charge of the 
largest and best-equipped fleet that had ever been led 
by an American commander. It consisted of forty- 
eight vessels. An army of fifteen thousand soldiers 
under General Butler was sent to aid in the caj^ture of 
New Orleans. Below the forts commanding the city, 
was a barricade of old vessels and logs fastened together 
with iron chains ; above these was the Confederate fleet 
of fifteen vessels. For a week Captain Farragut's mor- 
tar boats rained shells on the forts, then his gunboats 
broke the barricade. At four o'clock on the morning 
of April the twenty-fourth, his squadron passed the 
forts which had held back the British in 1815. Then 
they engaged in a desperate battle with the little Con- 
federate fleet. Every vessel of it was captured or 
wrecked. Four days later the besieged forts surren- 
dered, and on the first of May the Union troops under 
Butler took possession of New Orleans. Farragut was 
ordered to " pass or attack and capture " the Confeder- 
ate forts between New Orleans and Memphis. He ac- 
cordingly went to Vicksburg, but his expedition failed 
for lack of land-forces to support the attack. July 4, 
1863, Vicksburg was taken by General Grant, and a few 
davs later, Port Hudson was surrendered. This gave 
the Union forces entire control of the river. For his 



288 

valiant and efficient service, Farragut was rewarded in 
1862 with the rank of rear-admiral, created for his 
benefit. Thus he was the first admiral in the United 
States navy. Later he was made vice-admiral, and in 
186G he became admiral, each of the three ranks being 
created in his honor. 

While Farragnt's squadron was striving to gain con- 
trol of the Mississippi, a battle took place on the At- 
lantic coast which marked the beo,innino; of a new era 
in naval warfare, the end of wooden warships and the 
use of iron vessels. The Confederates captured a 
United States vessel, the Merrimac, removed its masts, 
covered it with iron, and fitted it with an iron prow. 
This iron-clad vessel attacked and destroyed several 
Union vessels. It was attacked by the Monitor, an 
iron-covered vessel designed by Captain John Ericsson 
and commanded by Lieutenant Worden. It carried 
larger guns than had ever before been used on a vessel. 
A fierce battle was fought in which neither of the iron- 
clads was seriously injured, and the Merrimac finally 
withdrew. 

Leaving the Mississippi squadron in charge of Por- 
ter, who was also a rear-admiral now, Farragut went 
to the Atlantic coast. As soon as vessels could be re- 
fitted, he set forth in the summer of 1864 to capture 
Mobile, an important seaport of the South. With 
twenty-four warships and four iron-clads he entered 
Mobile Bav which was commanded bv two strona; forts, 



289 

In order to overlook the fleet and direct its action, the 
admiral stationed himself in the rigging of his vessel, 
despite the protests of his men against his occnpying a 
place of such danger. A submarine mine sunk one 
of his vessels with almost its entire crew ; at this dis- 
aster the vessel which was leading the fleet stopped. 
Admiral Farragut ordered his own vessel, the Hartford, 
" full speed " in the van and led the way into the bay. 
The entire Confederate fleet was destroyed, and the 
forts were taken in a few days, thus giving the Federals 
control of the Gulf. Of the battle of Mobile Bay Far- 
ragut said, " It was one of the hardest-earned victories 
of my life, and the most desperate battle I ever fought 
since the days of the Essex." 

While Farragut was in the Gulf making ready to at- 
tack Mobile, in June, 1864, a brilliant naval battle was 
fought off the coast of France. This was between the 
Federal Kearsarge, commanded by Captain Winslow, 
and the Confederate Alabama under Captain Semmes. 
After an hour's desperate battle, the Alabama was sunk. 

A few months later, occurred one of the most daring 
deeds of the Avar. The Confederate vessel, the Albe- 
marle, was destroyed at night by a torpedo from a little 
boat commanded by Lieutenant Cushing. Lieutenant 
Gushing had volunteered for the service, fully recog- 
nizing the danger to which he would be exposed. His 
boat was sunk, and only he and one of the crew es- 
caped by swimming, 
s 



290 

Clara Barton 

The President of the American Eecl Cross Society 

War at best brings with it terrible suffering, hard- 
ship and sickness, wounds and death. Gratitude is due 
those who labor to alleviate such sufferings. Among 
these, women have ever been foremost. During the 
Crimean War in Europe, Florence Nightingale and 
other noble Englishwomen M'ent to the Crimea to nurse 
the sick and wounded soldiers. 

In our War between the States a few years later, 
similar services were rendered bj many self-sacrificing 
women, both North and South. Two great organiza- 
tions, the Sanitary Commission and the Christian Com- 
mission, were formed in the North to collect supplies 
and forward them to the needy and suffering soldiers. 
Mary Livermore, who was at the head of the Sanitary 
Commission, wrote an interesting account of its work. 

While these were busy at home, other women were 
at work in the hospitals and on the battle-fields, caring 
for sick and wounded soldiers. One of these nurses 
was Dorothea Dix. During the war, she was a superin- 
tendent of hospital nurses; after the war, she devoted 
herself to improving the conditions of prison life. 

Another hospital nurse was Clara Barton, afterwards 
so prominently identified with the Eed Cross movement. 
She was born in Massachusetts in 1830. In young 
womanhood she taught several years, then she secured a 



291 

clerkship in Washington. At the beginning of the War 
between the States, she resigned her position to work in 
army-hospitals, where she was called " an angel of 
mercy." 

After the war, broken down in health, she w^ent 
abroad. In Europe she became interested in the work 
of -the Eed Cross societies, which were doing a noble 
work and had already secured the co-ojieration of twen- 
ty-two nations. These organizations were dne to the 
efforts of a Swiss gentleman who in 1859 visited the 
field of Solferino where, in a battle between the Ans- 
trians and the French, thousands of soldiers were killed 
and thousands were wounded. The medical aid at 
hand was pitifully inadequate; the sight of the suffer- 
ings of the wounded soldiers led this Swiss to plan the 
formation of societies for the relief of wounded sol- 
diers. Such a society was formed at Geneva in 1864, 
and a badge, a red cross on a white ground, was adopted 
which was to be worn by those in its service. 

By the efforts of Miss Barton, in 1881 the United 
States co-operated in this work. A Red Cross society 
was formed of which Miss Barton became president. 
In 1896 its members helped in the relief of the Armen- 
ians ; they did noble work in the Spanish-American 
War in 1898, and in the Boer War the next year. 

The work of the Bed Cross society is not limited to 
the relief of the victims of war. In times of eahimity 
and disaster, it takes speedy relief to those stricken by 



292 

flood, famine, or pestilence. During the floods of 1884, 
Miss Barton in a relief-boat traveled thousands of miles 
up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Elvers, distrib- 
uting food, clothing, and supplies. The Johnstown 
flood of 1889 left four thousand people dead and twenty 
thousand homeless. The Red Cross Society hastened 
to the relief of the sufferers. For live months its agents 
worked amid scenes of w^ant and distress, distributing 
over two hundred thousand dollars' worth of food, 
clothes, furniture, and other supplies. They did simi- 
lar work at the great flood of Galveston in 1900, and are 
always ready to extend a helping hand where it is 
needed. 

George B. Dewey 

George Dewey, the third admiral of the United States 
navy, was bom in Vermont, December 26, 1837. He 
was descended from a Puritan who emigrated to Massa- 
chusetts about 1(333. As a boy, George Dewey was 
mischievous and daring and not fond of study. His 
father, however, realizing the importance of education, 
kept him at school and insisted on his a]3plying him- 
self. 

He entered the ISTaval Academy when he was seven- 
teen and was graduated in 1858, fifth in his large class. 
His first active service was in Farragut's attack on Xew 
Orleans,, and here he showed courage and coolness under 
fire. 



293 

In attempting to pass Port Hudson, his ship, the 
Mississippi, was riddled with shot and shell Then it 
was rnn ashore and set on fire by Captain Smith and 
Dewey to prevent its falling into the hands of the Con- 
federates. In his official report of this affair, Captain 
Smith said, " I consider that I should be neglecting 
a most important duty should I omit to mention the 
coolness of my executive officer, Mr. Dewey, and the 
steady, fearless, and gallant manner in which the officers 
and men of the Mississippi defended her, and the or- 
derly and quiet manner in which she was abandoned 
after being thirty-five minutes aground, under the fire^ 
of the enemy's batteries." 

After the war Farragiit said to Dewey's father, 
" Your son George is a worthy and brave officer and 
some day will make his mark." 

It was long, however, before the opportunity came 
for him to do so. Meanwhile he went quietly on, per- 
forming the duties of his profession. For two years 
after the War between the States, he was instructor in 
the Naval Academy. In 1884 he was promoted cap- 
tain and in 1897 commodore. He was now sixty years 
old, and while he was recognized as a brave and able 
officer, the prospect seemed that he Avould be retired at 
sixty-two, according to the rules of the navy, without 
gaining special fame. 

But this was not to be the case. His opportunity was 
to come, and because he was ready for it, he was to 



294 

attain a fame equal to that won by any other naval 
commander of his coimtry. In January, 1898, he was 
ordered to take command of the Asiatic squadron; that 
spring while he was on Pacific waters, war was declared 
between the United States and Spain. 

Cuba, one of its first discoveries, had remained sub- 
ject to Spain while one after another of her New World 
possessions slipped from her grasp. Instead of ruling 
the colony wisely, Spain governed it with severity and 
injustice. The oppressed people made more than one 
effort to gain freedom. One attempt after another was 
unsuccessful, but in 1895 there broke out a rebellion so 
desperate that the Spaniards were not able to suppress 
it. The cruel General Weyler was put in command of 
the army in Cuba. In order to keep the natives from 
taking part in the insurrection, he formed what w^ere 
called " concentration camps ;" towns were surrounded 
by barbed wire fences and the inclosures were guarded 
by Spanish soldiers ; in these were confined men, women, 
and children. Foul water, lack of food, and lack of 
proper sanitary regulations killed thousands in these 
camps. Through the Red Cross Society, the Americans 
sent food and supplies to the sufferers. 

When our Consul in Havana reported that many 
Americans were among the starving sufferers, the 
United States protested ; finally, Weyler was recalled 
and the American prisoners and the helpless natives 
were released. 



295 

In the winter of 1898 the Maine, an American battle- 
ship commanded by Captain Sigsbee, was in Havana 
harbor on a friendly visit. On the fifteenth of Febru- 
ary, it was blown np by a submarine mine and two hun- 
dred and sixty-six Americans were killed. No one 
could find out who put the mine there nor who ex- 
ploded it. This incident excited such indignation in 
America that Congress authorized President McKinley 
to use the army and navy to force Spain to give up 
Cuba. This caused Spain to declare war against the 
United States. 

The war with Spain began, April 21, 1898. Three 
days later, orders were cabled to Dewey, who was at 
Hong Kong, China : " Proceed at once to the Philippine 
Islands. Commence operations, particularly against 
the Spanish fleet. You must capture or destroy the ves- 
sels. Use utmost endeavor." 

.As Dewey sailed from Hong Kong, he signalled to his 
fleet : " Keep cool and obey orders." The night of 
April the thirtieth the vessels reached Manila ; ignor- 
ing the mines and batteries, they steamed in single file 
between the forts which guard the wide entrance of the 
bay. A little after five o'clock on the morning of May 
1, 1898, began the battle of Manila Bay. The Spanish 
fleet was commanded by Admiral Montojo, one of the 
ablest of the Spanish officers. His fleet and the bat- 
teries opened fire on the Americans. Two submarine 
mines were exploded; fortunately, they did no damage 



296 

and tliey did not deter Dewey, who had been with Far- 
rag'ut at the battle of Mobile Bay when the brave ad- 
miral sailed over torpedoes. 

Dewey coolly watched the Spanish cannonade for 
awhile, and then qnietly said to the captain of his flag- 
ship, the Olympia : " You may fire when ready. Grid- 
ley." With a shout, " Remember the Maine," the 
Americans fired. Their vessels, single file, passed the 
Spanish squadron, firing broadsides with deadly effect. 
Then they turned and repeated the maneuver. This 
was done five times in the course of two hours. The 
Spanish ships one after another were sunk, disabled, 
or blown up. At half past seven o'clock Commodore 
Dewey withdrew out of range of the Spanish batteries, 
and breakfast was served. He then returned to the at- 
tack and in two hours the Americans completed the de- 
struction of the Spanish fleet, which was superior to 
their own in ships, men, and guns. The Spaniards 
fought bravely, but they were poor marksmen ; they had 
two hundred men killed and lost their squadron of 
twelve vessels. The Americans did not lose a ship 
and they had only seven men wounded and none 
killed. 

Dewey received from Congress a vote of thanks and 
the rank of rear-admiral. He remained in charge at 
Manila till relieved by a military governor. The war 
was over then, Spain was defeated, and Cuba free. 
There was no further occasion for his services. In 



297 

1899 be left Manila ; after a leisurely cruise, in the 
autiunn he reached the United States, where he was re- 
ceived with enthusiasm. 



Andrew Carnegie 

The Steel King 

The United States has been called " the land of the 
poor man's opportunity." More than one barefoot boy 
in it has passed from a log cabin to the White House. 
In no other country have there been such rises from 
poverty to wealth and position. There is often much 
to condemn in the methods by which vast wealth is 
acquired, but the task requires ability and talent of 
a kind, and the careers of these " captains of industry," 
as they are well termed, are regarded wuth interest. 

A typical man of this class is Andrew Carnegie, who 
has risen from extreme poverty to vast wealth. He 
^^as born in 1837 in Scotland. His father, a master 
weaver, lost work when machines took the place of 
hand-looms ; he emigrated to the United States when 
Andrew was a boy of eleven. Andrew began work 
when he was twelve as a bobbin-boy in a cotton factory 
in Pennsylvania, at weekly wages of a dollar and 
twenty cents. 

"Wlien he was fourteen, he became a telegi'aph mes- 
senger boy and earned three dollars a week. In his 



298 

spare time, he learned telegraphy and became an expert 
operator. 

He was shown a model of a sleeping car of which he 
was quick to see the advantages ; his first business in- 
vestment was in a sleeping car company, and the suc- 
cess of this laid the foundation of his fortune. 

Later on, he became interested in iron works of vari- 
ous kinds. He foresaw that iron bridges would largely 
take the place of wooden ones. He formed a company 
to make the parts for iron bridges. Later, he saw the 
superiority of steel over iron. In 18G8 he introduced 
into America the Bessemer process of making steel. 
He acquired one after another seven great iron and steel 
works ; moreover, he acquired coal and iron fields and 
railways and steamboats to control transportation. 

In 1889 his plant at Homestead was the scene of a 
strike, one of the fiercest contests in America between 
capital and organized labor. A number of workmen 
and detectives were killed, and the militia had to be 
called out to put down the riot. 

In 1899 Carnegie's interest in different iron and steel 
plants were consolidated ; in 1902 there was formed the 
United States Steel Corporation, a vast trust with a 
capital of over a billion dollars, which employs forty 
thousand people. The year that this trvist was formed 
Carnegie retired from business : he received for his 
share in the trust two hundred and fifty million dollars' 
worth of bonds bearing five j)er cent, interest, thus se- 



299 

curing liim an income of about fourteen million dollars 
a year. The Steel King, his wife, and daughter, make 
their home at Skibo Castle, a magnificent residence in 
Scotland, 

Mr. Carnegie says that a man who has accumulated a 
great fortune ought to share it with the people. Among 
the objects which he considers most worthy the aid of 
men of wealth, he names universities, free libraries, 
hospitals, public parks, swimming baths, public halls, 
and church buildings. His own favorite charity is the 
aid of public libraries to which he has given millions of 
dollars. In 1902 he gave ten million dollars to found 
Carnegie Institution in Washington " for promotion of 
study and research." 



THE END 



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